


Rambling One Shots

by KisakiRose



Series: Idead: Rambling Series [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Character Study, Multi, One Shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2020-02-18 15:38:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18702523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KisakiRose/pseuds/KisakiRose
Summary: Warnings will be more specific per story in the chapter's descriptions. This is basically me working on character development or just random scene concepts for other, bigger ideas.





	1. Chapter 1

Executive decision: this is now the table of contents.

(Mostly because I don't honestly know how long this is going to end up, nor how often the updates will be.)

1: Table of Contents (hi!)

2: Bar Scene 

3: Drugged 

4: Language Barrier 

5: AI Deviance 

6: Adoption

7: Snow Rescue


	2. Rainy Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Implied abuse, panic attacks, mild body horror, some vulgar language and intentions.

Tobacco smog of cigars and pipes in the hands of the elderly patrons hung as a low haze in the bantam tavern. Liquor was strong and the beer was cold, everything a regular like Hector was looking for within four walls of crumbling mortar: just a house for mismatches to drink in a stoic coexistence.

His third bottle was still cold in hand as he gazed towards one of the rickety televisions mounted over the bar. Nothing good was on. Nothing good ever really was unless there was some big fight going on that even the ball hungry sport fans aren’t dense enough to miss. Noises from outside were muffled, only the ephemeral of broken mufflers intruded the haze blend of murmuring voices and moth-eaten rock.

Hector wouldn’t have noticed that a new face had joined them in the lounge if not for the overwhelming spice of distraught omega. The establishment as one swiveled their focus to the rain-soaked, rail thin man. Dark hair clung to his face in tendrils, and tattered cloth, that may have been his clothes at some point, plastered against his deathly thin anatomy. Gorgeously bloodshot eyes flashed around the perturbingly mute bar, causing him to draw his lips into a thin grimace. Before Hector could form the thought to query the distraught stranger what was wrong, the thin man turned on his heel and sprinted to the far end of the shotgun building. Heads turned as they observed the omega’s escape. His shoulder slamming into the door as he disappeared into the single stall loo.  For beats at a time, mum ruled over the half full tavern as the stranger seemed to gather himself in the petite water closet.

True enough, three more trudged through the front door: two matrons and a staunch flunky, each with water running down their coats and savage irises gleaming garnets. The owner, and bartender, of the store raised her brows at the sight. Z let an annoyed hiss curl under a breath before donning her perfected professional persona.

“Looking for something?” she called over the stilled bar, the only lingering echo being the blown speakers of the shyly singing radio.

“Short, lanky, and stupid.” The matron with wire hair tipped her head, “where is he?” Z shrugged, her face distorting into something that she does when trying to not snarl. Hector’s hands had already shifted, the elongated claws passively tracing the patterns carved into wood by frustrated alphas of the past. Three after one runt of a kid: either that kid is some kind of serial killer, or he’s trying to escape a darker side of society.

“It came in here.” the other woman challenged, “Someone better start talking.” The house was quiet, Hector could pick out the slow shifts in some of the regulars. This was their place, their territory. None of them even knew that shrimp’s name, but he’s under their protection the moment he stepped in here. That’s how instincts work, and these dense estrogen shifters are about to learn that very shortly if they don’t step off.  

“You think we’d miss an omega running through here?” one of the regulars barked. Both of the women turned to him instantly, annoyance creasing their brows.

“No, you wouldn’t. That’s the problem, you see.” the shorter woman clicked her tongue, waving a hand for their still silent quarterback to look alive. “Check out the place.”

“Best have some kind’a warrant.” Z snapped, her eyes actively being eaten by a glowing red. Hector’s only seen Z get pissed a handful of times. Each time has ended with someone being hauled away on a stretcher. Half of him wanted to stay back and watch the show, while a better part of him realized if Z went to jail he would lose his favorite hang out.

“We’re here to repossess our property. Sorry for any inconvenience.” the shorter woman drawled annoyedly.

“You forget where you are.” another man smiled with far too sharp of teeth. “Omega is ours now.”

“This is bullshit.” the taller woman snorted, walking over as to check behind the bar counter to see if the man was crouched there.

“Leave,” Z directed. With that command, multiple others stood, their bulky bodies towering over the women and challenging their mindless muscle-bound lacky. They looked over their chances, silently sharing a glance before turning their backs to the crowd. It would be foolish to think that they were going to give up on the kid altogether, but while he was in here, he would be relatively safe.

“I should try to beat the crowd.” Hector muttered to Z once they had cleared out. The house was still on edge. Red alpha irises flashing between each other, some of them growling lowly in their throats. Everyone and their brothers was about to offer the kid a strong drink, hell knows he was going to need one.

Hector knocked lightly on the thin door, even then a sharp thump of someone flinching and possibly falling off of something resounded in the small room. There was no answer otherwise. He knocked again, this time calling through the wood.

“I’m a medic, Kid, why don’t you open up.”

Z whistled from behind the bar, lifting a key on a godawful ring with a half torn teddy bear taped to it. Hector understood, crossing the creaking floor with every other patron’s eyes following his every move.

“Coming in.” no one argued with him, he worked as a paramedic outside of this hangout. Compared everyone else there, he was the most equipped to deal with whatever was happening in the small closet of a room.

____________________

The impossibly thin man had wedged himself in the incredibly tight space between the wall and toilet. He was shaking horridly with eyes tightly screwed shut and his forearms covering his head.

“Hey, Omega.” Hector made an effort to soften his voice, but gravel still caught in his vocal cords. “Come on out of there, those bitches are gone.” The keening whine from the omega’s throat pierced the air like a dart. Two of the other alphas had wandered to the doorway to the small room, both of them gawking over Hector’s shoulder at the cowering man. Hector found himself hushing, and against his better judgement, he placed a hand on the scruff of the omega’s neck. He didn’t dig his claws into the tender flesh there, only the slight yet firmly present pressure of his fingers and thumb on either side at the base of his skull. The omega’s body slouched in submission and the whimpering dampened down slightly as Hector continued to coo under his breath.

“You’ve done this before?” a gruff, clearly intoxicated, voice questioned from the doorway. Hector glanced over his shoulder, regarded the two and concluded they weren’t a threat.

“I’s a paramedic in the city.” He answered curtly, no longer lifting his sight from the huddled omega.

“No wonder you drink.” the other laughed humorlessly. Hector did his best to tune them out, meticulously taking in every detail of the omega while he was still cramped in his hiding space. He had black hair, much like the alpha himself. Except the omega’s skin was milky white, as if it has been a very long time since he had the honor of feeling sunlight on his skin. The man was severely underweight if being able to count ribs through the soaked shirt was any indication. Being soaked was another thing, the omega was absolutely freezing. The rain outside must be merciless, and who honestly knows how long the kid had been running? Where did he even come from? There were no shelters or brothels anywhere _near_ here. He wasn’t even wearing shoes, the pads of his feet were torn to shreds from the road, alleyways, and hell knew what else he had run through.

“We’re going to get you out of there.” Hector coaxed, his hold on the omega’s scruff never wavering. “I’m going to get you wrapped up in my coat, and we’re going to get something warm in you, how does that sound?” The alpha tried to smile encouragingly but the omega keened hysterically, causing the alpha to frown and study every line of the omega once again.

“Are you not ready to come out?” the alpha prodded, he needed to start getting some kind of responses from the kid. If the little guy kept so silent and passive, Hector would only want to bring the omega to his hospital, where he would be better equipped for caring for him. However, that also runs the risk of the other three getting their claws back on him.

“So many masters.” his response was soft, barely even a whimper that, if Hector wasn’t partly shifted, the alpha would have completely missed it.

“No masters, look at me. Only me, okay?” the words felt weird on his tongue. He knew that this was a role that many omegas had gotten used to in their mistreatment. Breaking it cold turkey always ended worse off than playing along and slowly weaning them off of such a mindset. At least that’s what Hector told himself as he muttered the words. “Only I am to touch you, do you understand?”

The omega lifted his head, just barely enough to look over his new master’s face. Beautiful, exotic greenish yellow irises sparkled even in the dimmest  light of the bar’s toilet. The omega’s nod took the last of his strength, which caused his head to fall back into place against the splintering wall.

“Okay, good, Little Omega.” The paramedic found it so much easier to speak that sentence than the last. Meticulously, he unfolded the omega’s limbs from his furled state. With some patience he was able to pull the man up onto his lap before stopping all movement. The omega’s breath was hitching terribly. He was clearly on the brink of a panic attack as he tried so very hard to be good for his new master.

“I’m not going to punish you.” Hector found himself promising without a thought. “This is about taking care of you.”

His body limply hung as Hector carried him into the open space of the floor. Z’s eyes narrowed and her mouth slack at the miserable state the stranger was in. Hector asked for her to bring over his coat, turning into one of the nearest booths. The little guy was so cold, his body wasn’t even shivering except for a few trembles of fear every so often.

“The fuck happened?” She shouldered her way through the gawking crowd, heavy leather coat slung over her arm.

“He’s hypothermic.” Hector frowned, thanking her as he took his coat and maneuvered the giant piece around the omega’s petite frame. He wasn’t relaxing. His pupils were uneven and his mouth was agape, gasping for air that seemed too heavy for his lungs. The paramedic was holding him on his lap, his palm cradling the omega’s head so that his cold nose as pressed against the scent of Hector’s neck while Alpha glared down the ever approaching circle of curious patrons.

It was odd to see an omega without someone there to play chaperone: each one, including Hector, were more than willing to step in. Granted not all of them had the same idea of what the little guy needed.

“He smells offly sweet. You think he’s goin’ int’a heat?” one rambled outwardly.

“Regardless, a warm cock will perk him right on up.” another added fuel to the fire.

“Come’on, stop hoggin’ him!” another more feral voice roared.

“Not in my bar!” Z shouted over their bantering. She squared her shoulders and hardened her gaze on each and every one that dared challenge her.

“You goin’ to treat him good. Right, Hector fucking Salvano?” Z turned her attention on the cradling paramedic.

“You doubt me, I’m hurt.” he rolled his eyes, but kept his fingers strategically on the omega’s fluttering pulse. The little guy was going to give himself a heart attack if he didn’t take a full breath soon.

“Just need to know Tweedle-dee, Tweedle-dum, and Lord Fuckwad aren’t going to get a hold of him.” She hissed, stooping closer and resting the back of her fingers on his cheek.

“You weren’t kidding about how cold the brat was.” her voice softened significantly. “Fucking shit... I’m getting Maru to make something for him, if you think food would help.”

“He just needs to calm down for right now.” The alpha pulled the fragil form closer against his chest, whispering little nothings as he tried to rub life back into those bone thin arms.

____________________

“Realistically, you should be tryin’ t’get the brat out of here.” Z vaguely motioned to the ever lingering crowd. Hector wasn’t oblivious to the scent of arousal and possessiveness that was cutting through the tobacco and booze atmosphere. He nodded to the eccentric alpha. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun, but her shirt hung low and open with little more than ripped shorts clinging too tight to her thighs.

“What are my chances of getting a taxi without being jumped?” Hector questioned aloud. The omega wasn’t asleep, in fact he was painfully aware with his sight darting over everyone in the compact lounge. Hector hummed thoughtfully, replacing his hold on the omega’s scruff. The brat flinched hard, exotic irises flashing back up to the alpha before he seemed to mechanically lax his body into a submission.

“It’s okay, Kid. None of that will be necessary.” he whispered against the smaller one’s ear, letting a rolling, almost purring, growl escape as the omega curled up with his side against the alpha’s chest.

“Right, you don’t drive here, do yeh?” Z pawed at her eye, her brain clearly turning the situation over a few times. “Okay, I can get Maru to give you a lift.”

“You’re going to let me near your omega?” Hector snorted unbelievingly. Z flashed a lopsided smile as she rolled her eyes.

“You’ve talked to Konamaru before, no? He ain’t no fuckin’ omega.” She chuckled selfishly, “But, I will not let him live that little comment down.”  

“Right, I forgot you two were _unconventionals_.” Hector teased, but flashed an honest smile. “If he would do that, it would be forever appreciated.”

____________________

Maru dropped the two off in front of Hector’s apartment building. Both alphas were on high alert as they scanned the area to be sure they were not being followed. Rain was falling in buckets, the omega had to be tightly wrapped in the miserably oversized leather coat. Even then, Hector held him close to his breast, hunching over as to protect him from the icy onslaught of autumn rain.

“Thanks again.” Hector shouted over the noise. Maru nodded his acknowledgement as green hair stuck to his face. Hector disappeared into the building as Maru braced himself with the task of circling the perimeter a couple times, just to be sure.

The brat’s teeth were chattering again. Alpha tried to convince himself that it was from the cold, but he knew it could very well have been from fear. They scaled the stairs in silence, ducking away from the curious glances of a couple neighbors that happened to be in the hallway at the time.

Hector’s flat was silent and pristine. Only the sound of distant thunder and a soft pattering of rain leaked in from being this high over the city. He muttered a warning as he slowly lowered the omega onto his own feet. Alpha stayed for a moment longer with his hands bracing the smaller’s shoulders just until he was sure the brat wasn’t about to fall over.

“I’m going to get us some towels, okay?” He promised, meeting those exotic eyes for just a heart beat before turning away. He quickly made his way through his flat, ducking into a closet and pulling out the thickest towels he had on hand. The omega had shakily slipped the heavy coat off of his shoulders, and was trying to lift the waterlogged skins up onto the rack. Hector hummed his approach, using one much larger hand to easily put the coat up.

“Here, I’ll see about finding you some dry clothes too.” He wrapped the towel around the smaller man’s torso before gently using his fingertips to try to release the omega’s dark hair from sticking to his forehead.

“We’ll get you warm and rested, how’s that?”

____________________

“Rudy.” the omega whispered through what sounded to be a sore throat. Hector snapped his attention towards the man, a cup of hot tea in each hand.

“I’m sorry?” the alpha coaxed.

“My name’s Rudy.” he refused to look Hector in the eye, fixating on a spot just over the alpha’s shoulder.

“It’s good to meet you, Rudy. I’m Hector.” the alpha’s greeting was met with more silence. Rudy looked ridiculous wrapped in the much larger alpha’s clothes. The shirt hung almost as a dress, the boxers looked more like floods and the waistline had to be tied up with a hair band to keep them from falling. At least he was dry.

The thought of such a delicate omega in the claws of traffickers twisted the alpha’s stomach. No one deserved that kind of fate, especially someone that clearly had no chance of defending himself.

“You’ll be taking my bed tonight.” Hector didn’t leave room for debate. A strangely apprehensive yet grateful look crossed Rudy’s face, but he stayed silent. Only a slight nod of his head was his answer.

“It’s okay, Kid. We’re gonna figure this out, alright?” the alpha urged. Rudy’s sight flickered over the alpha’s face once, but quickly diverted as if he would be in trouble for being so brazen.

“Thank you, Sir.” Rudy wheezed through his sore throat, finally taking a sip of the offered tea.


	3. Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got nothing done this week, except for this. The chaotic typing schedule has started, I'm sorry.

"Please," his voice quaked, never before had the alpha's senses been assaulted like this. The man was trembling as he couldn't handle what was coursing through his body. Fear of what was happening, fear of what would happen again, paralyzed the man. The Alpha tried to move closer, tried to breathe through his mouth so it wouldn't affect him as bad, but even then it was too strong. The Omega cried out again, his fingers finding the lapel of the Apha's cloak. The alpha growled as the scent started to take hold. He couldn't help but take the Omega in his arms.

"Please," the little one tried again his voice still wavering horribly, making it hard to understand him. The much larger man hush him, it was all he could do. The little one was taken by heat in the middle of the square. Stalls were around them, people were watching: he could not begin to help ease the Omega until he got him somewhere safe.

"Try to breathe, just try to breathe. I'm going to carry you, okay?" He knew what the Omega was trying to say. Alpha didn't need any more explanation. He had seen others go down: others that weren't so lucky, ones he could not get to first. That wasn't what happened this time though. The lightweight of the smaller man was against his chest and the sweet scent of an Omega in heat filled his nostrils as he let Instinct lead him away.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the people watching. The goons didn't look like they're up to any good, to say the least. Their eyes flickered over the man as a couple of them tried to brave forward as the Alpha kept little one clutched close to his chest.

"You know him?" one of them grunted, his hair slicked back by sweat more than hairspray, his eyes beady devils. Little one whimpered, crying senselessly as heat took over his body. The alpha's growl stayed low in his chest as he shouldered through the line. He didn't want to deal with them, he didn't want to linger any longer than he absolutely had to in public with this little one. Something was wrong. Something that they needed to get away from.

The place was quiet, if not a little bare. His home was made for a bachelor that didn't care too much about interior design. Still The Nest he had would serve well for the little one. Little one didn't want to let go of his shirt, even as he tried to settle him into the nest. His whimpers filling the air, growing loud enough to disturb some of the neighbors. He could ignore their incessant banging next door; the beta couple finding the dynamic rituals of nesting and heat more annoyance than necessary. Still, whatever little one need, he was willing to give, but he needed to clean himself off first. He still smelled of those guys, despite the faintness of their scent on his clothes from brushing through them was enough to send him into a protective fierceness. Little one needed someone to have a good grip on himself, and something to drink since the fever was spiking. The heat over the little one's body was starting to be worrying, as if he was cooking from the inside out.

Little one didn't care about the water. He didn't care about anything other than the closeness of alpha. He kept grasping at the alpha's clothes m, kept trying to undo those teasing buttons of his shirt so that the insufferable fabric barrier between he and Alpha would be gone.

"Slow yourself, Little Omega." His gruff voice hushed, the growling deep in his throat and rumbling through his chest. "I want to take care of you, but with what you want I'll only end up hurting you."

"Please-" omega squeaked as he continued his one word Mantra; the only word this Alpha has ever heard him say.

"I want to help," the alpha growled deeper in his chest. "I want to help, I promise you. But what you want from me I'll only end up hurting you."

The little one, as old as he was, would have known his heat was coming. He was probably drugged, possibly by those goons back at the market. Part of him knew that they were probably followed home, but another part of him didn't care. He wanted to challenge them to come into his home, into his den. He would defend it by any means, and enjoy every second of it. There's no reason an innocent little one needed to be drugged: the only reason that came to mind twisted his stomach into slimy eels.

"Just take the water," the alpha kept his voice low again. "Just drink and lay back. Let me take care of things."

Alpha didn't know what to do with himself, little one wasn't calming down. If this is a drug, it wasn't wearing off. It's been hours of watching this little one struggle in alpha's nest whining and begging for the alpha to come and ease his pain. A horrible thought crossed mind, what if this drug doesn't pass unless he's taken? What if Alpha was forced to become the very monster he despised, to save someone?

Alpha still sat where he was stationed. His sight endlessly studying the Omega. He calmed down, marginally, in the past three hours since they've been there. Or, it was most likely, exhaustion taking over his body and finally easing him down to a dreamless sleep.

Alpha couldn't fool himself into thinking that he was actually resting. Things like this take a toll, and it would take so much longer to feel safe enough to just rest. So, the full glass of water that little one determinedly refused to drink, even when he was relatively coherent, sat in the nightstand beside him.

"What do you want from me?" The voice was small, barely audible in the bare master bedroom of the alpha. Even then, the alpha's ears picked it up instantly. The larger man lifted his head from where he was reading his red-rimmed eyes landing on the terrified Omega's expression.

I don't want anything from you." He spoke slowly and truthfully. "I just didn't like... I didn't like how they looked. I didn't like how they circled you like predators to prey." Alpha eventually found the words, the very ones that brought a shiver to the omega's body. Little one tucked himself deeper into the thin blankets, more for the barrier against the alpha than it was against the cold.

"I promise you I don't want anything." His voice bordered a command, he didn't mean for it to, but he was desperate for the little one to understand. "I just want you to be safe and I wish that this didn't need to happen at all."

"They were trying to drug me, I think they succeeded." Little one's voice squeaked half way through, barely able to admit his fault. "I felt a sting on my arm, I look over to see this this gargoyle looking man." He stuttered, but not horribly, amazingly able to keep himself together.

"So it was what I suspected. It's not your fault. Nothing like that is ever your fault. You did the right thing trying to find somewhere public." The alpha's praise preened a nearly forgotten part of the omega's instincts. Then a thought crossed the alphas mind blatantly; he cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner.

"Do you have an alpha?"

"No, I haven't in years." He was understandably hesitant at first to say such a thing. Especially as he laid in the nest of an alpha, one that he didn't know. 

"I know that look on your face." Alpha tried to force himself to come across as non threatening, but he knew it didn't work. 

"I'm not going to hurt you, nor am I going to force you to stay here."

"May I have your name, at least?" The omega tried to keep his voice steady but his resolve was weakening. 

"Cassy." he found that this time a true smile reached his lips. "And may I have yours, Little Omega?"

"Jason." The omega smiled wryly this time, finding a little bit more confidence in his voice. "Well I'm sorry, Cassy, for causing this." The little one started stuttering, he couldn't think of what to say first. All things starting to jumble in his mind and twisting his tongue. Cassy, the alpha, mercifully waited for him to figure out his thoughts.

"Thank you for doing this for me, I know you didn't have to." Jason realized that he wasn't in his original clothes, but he was wearing something... which surprised him. Normally, when near an omega in heat, an Alpha is desperate to strip them. For obvious reasons.

Cassy clearly didn't have the same intentions as Jason was fearing. Sure, the scent of those guys are now off of him, and his skin even feels like it had been cleaned. The new, lingering scent was purely Cassy's musky, almost forest like, scent. It was strange to find an alpha that smelt of the forest in the middle of a city. Most alphas here had picked up the scent of city life: business, downtown, maybe a couple of the small, perfectly manicured gardens that line the side of the sidewalk, but never a full Forest.

Cassy leaned most of his weight onto his knees, the thoughtful gaze in his eyes made the omega unsure of himself. The fever wasn’t as bad as it was before, but Jason’s cheeks were still flushed, and his hair sticking to his forehead. He was too embarrassed to admit how much he craved the alpha’s touch. He was a complete stranger, but he’s already proved himself to be different from the other alphas crawling around the city. 

“Is there something I can get for you, Little Jason?” his voice was sin, it wasn’t meant to be sin- but it called the omega’s instincts more than Alpha could ever realize. Jason’s whimper slipped out, his fingers gripping into the fabric. 

“Would it be easier if I was nearer to you?” the smile in his voice shown he knew exactly what he was implying. The omega’s mind took the idea and ran away with it, being held down, nearly folded in half, with a powerful alpha grunting over him. Each thrust chipping away at the agony of an unaided heat. 

“Alpha-” Jason gasped, unable to stop himself as he threw himself towards the man. Cassy’s eyes widened, his hands gripping the delirious omega’s shoulders. Jason nearly sobbed when he was pushed back onto the mattress.

“Easy there, Little One.” he rushed. Cassy tried to restrain the omega’s strained advances without harming the little man, but he was bordering desperate to close the gap. “Get a hold of yourself, Jason. This isn’t what you want.” 

“Alpha, please,” he whimpered in a broken voice. 

“Get a hold of yourself,” Cassy begged, “Little omega, please.”


	4. The Tribute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally back!
> 
> Language barrier, piercing gone wrong, minor violence, fluffier than it needs to be

He never thought this would end up being him. The horror stories whispered among both the higher and lower classes rang painfully between his ears as he was lead as a peace offering to the monsters. His city, his country, would survive- maybe- if he was to face the enemy alone as their toy. He was nothing more than a play thing now, a token of surrender- not that anyone of a higher stature would ever admit it. 

His country couldn’t win, so they had to play by the monster’s rules. 

Almost three fourths of the population’s alphas had been murdered by these creatures through battle already. What honest snowball in hell’s chance did an omega have against them? He didn’t even have a name anymore, that had been stripped of him: so had been his status, his wealth, his family, every aspect of his old life had been peeled away until he literally had no reason to return. Nothing, no one, would be waiting for him. They would have no reason to- according to his own people, he was dead. 

This is how royalty surrenders, without surrendering. 

He was certain that the rumors of his death, a hunting accident of his own stupidity, would only be half a lie by the time his body made it to the monster’s capital. If even a quarter of the gruesome stories were true, he wasn’t going to survive the travels there, regardless if he found a reason to struggle to stay alive. 

The only thing he had left of his culture was a horizontal bar pierced through his tongue. It rendered him silent and marked him for death. Only the worst criminals and traitors earned such a piercing. Should anyone that knew of it’s meaning see him- they would kill him on sight for escaping his bonds. It had to have been how the heads of the country kept all of this a secret. When the emperor requested his presence he was ecstatic at first. Then it became clear he would never return home again. 

That corrupt, power hungry dictator knew what he was doing, and he couldn’t have the decency of faking a single ounce of regret in those age wrinkled eyes. He almost seemed pleased with himself, commenting on how beautiful of a token the young, temple serving omega would be. 

He was certain this god that he had spent the entirety of his twenty years serving and worshiping had grown bored with him. Why else would a so-called all loving god let this happen? Abandoned by everything, even his religion, the omega was bound hand and foot. He was laid on his front on a wooden platform just outside the walls. Night hung overhead, the moon’s light dim this time of the month so his omega senses couldn’t make out even as far as the forest line. Guards were paid to look the other way. No villagers were out at this time of night, courtesy of the curfew. He laid there, mute and naked, waiting for the monsters to come for their prey. 

He was shivering before long. The cold autumn air picked up wind, within moments it was raining. Of course, it was. The one time he’s trapped outside, without shelter, without clothing, it must rain. Perhaps he would die of exposure before the monsters even came for him? 

His ability to hear and see diminished with the weather. A monsoon had come in, the roar of water bouncing around the forest disguised all signs of anything that was approaching. Water dripped down his face, down his entire body, and had caused his hair to cling to the wet skin around his eyes. Slowly he was forced to control his breathing, being unable to turn away from the onslaught, rain found ways of trying to suffocate him where he lay. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarge led the small pack through the forest, down the very familiar path towards that vulgar excuse of a leader’s country. Every month, like ritual, they came here to claim their prize. They could respect how fondly the public must have held their leader, considering how many of them so willingly give themselves in his place. Soon enough, they will decide that one old man’s life is not worth the multitude. Perhaps it will be this month- maybe it will be next. Sooner than later would be ideal, these trips were getting old and redundant. The old geizer would end up dying before they had their chance to enact revenge for what that emperor of theirs had done to prisoners of war. 

All is fair in love and war: but leave pups out of it.

The grey and tan direwolf leader was first to breach the forestline. Sarge normally had no issues with monsoons, but he was hoping he was seeing their offering wrong. He padded up to the low platform. An omega, barely older than a pup, scented of nothing but pain and fear as he realized that Sarge had arrived. Instinct almost had the wolf curling around the one he perceived as a child. He’s brought back many offerings before- none of them have ever been this young. His shadows circled loosely, the wolves a wide range of colors and sizes. 

The omega was whimpering, but he was muffled horribly, like the rest of them always were. Why they did this to themselves evaded Sarge. It had to have been painful to have a bar placed so unnaturally though the tongue. It looked like something out of a nightmare, a bit one can never spit out. 

He lowered his giant head, sniffing deeply near the omega’s scent gland at the base of the smaller man’s throat. He smelled sweet, pure, and something Sarge couldn’t put a name to. Regardless, it only confirmed to his primal mind that this  _ man _ was barely more than a pup. He and his people would never be able to punish such a young, innocent life. Why would he throw his life away for such an old man, even if it was out of patriotism? He had so much left in him to offer, he had barely even started his life yet. 

As the agreement stands- he has to take their offering, but there is no reason they need to kill the kid. His people refuse to become the monster their enemy had been. 

“ _ A bit young? _ ” the smaller wolf to his left spoke in their native tongue. He had shifted back to his naked human form, short but well built. “ _ Even their pups have no regard for life. _ ”

“ _ The pup is suffering, we can’t let them think we’ll stoop to their level. _ ” Sarge shifted as well, nude as the day he was born, knelt next to the young omega. He hadn’t reached out to touch the man yet, even so the man was a sobbing mess. Blood dripped from his mouth from that thing through his tongue, the organ swollen and agonizing as he desperately attempted to talk despite it. 

“ _ Think he’s changed his mind? Normally they don’t second guess until they see our walls. _ ” the smaller observed, circling to the other side of Sarge to get a better view of the omega’s face. 

“ _ Or he didn’t want to be here at all. _ ” the dire wondered, letting his sight wander up the side of the defending wall. He could scale that within seconds, tear that emperor out of bed, and demand an explanation for this. That would more than likely cause the devil to kill the kid to cover up anything he was doing. 

“ _ We take him with us, and see if we can’t get that pin out of his tongue. _ ” the direwolf decided. His initial touch with the omega was on the kid’s scruff. He screamed, blood dripping down his chin and rain running rivers over his body. With just a bit of measured strength, Sarge rendered the omega helpless under him. His thin body perfectly limp and pliant to the alpha’s wishes. He wondered if he should try whispering to the kid while he was working on readjusting his binds. If the youth was going to be on the back of a shifted alpha, he needed his arms in front of himself. Sarge worked the smaller feet into a stirrup type contraption so that he wouldn’t fall from the smaller wolf's back. 

" _ The pup is freezing. _ " Another dire rumbled, his bulky, dark body hunched over as he watched curiously.

" _ We'll camp when we get to the caves so he can warm up. _ " Sarge appeased just before stretching his muscle bound limbs and bursting back into his wolf. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had scruffed him when he was already cold and defenceless. The wolf under him offered some warmth, but even his fur was soaked through from the rain. It wasn’t nearly as brutal of transport as he was expecting, however. They bound his arms and legs so that he was securely on the alpha, but the ropes weren’t incredulously rough. The alpha also seemed to be mindful of his movements as to not jostle his passenger around too much. 

Chills were starting to surface from the scruffing. His body was trembling uncontrollably, his fingers caught in an eternal white knuckled fist. All he could do was try to keep his sobbing and noises down to a minimum. The pain in his mouth was unbearable. Cold rain felt like needles pelting his bare back. He wished that he had the mercy of falling unconscious. A blissful nothingness while the monsters around him made up their minds for what to do with him. 

The wolves around him were speaking in a language that was foreign to his ears. Despite not earning the teasing blackness of his swimming awareness, he wasn’t sure how long they had been in one spot. Had the rain stopped? It wasn’t pelting him anymore, but he could swear that he heard it still falling in the distance. The wolf beneath him morphed to a man, one not too much older than himself. The alpha was knelt on a smooth stone floor as he untangled himself from the bindings with the omega. The omega was limp as a sack of potatoes, slumped onto the cave’s floor, and balled weakly against the hypothermia that was undoubtedly setting in. 

They kept talking amongst each other, some of the notes serious, some of the tones lending themselves to innocent bantering. The omega was untied, but he didn’t move from his spot on the floor. One: he didn’t have the strength, two: a wolf he could only describe as a dire had shifted to a giant among men, and he had his hand on the omega’s shoulder in a clear demand to stay still. 

A louder voice echoed in the cave, followed by a chorus of happy bantering. The sound brought a paralyzing fear to the omega. What had happened? What were they doing? His eyes were swollen and the dancing orange light that reflected in the cramped walls only teased his weakened senses. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ _ He looks like shit, you sure he isn’t dead already? _ ” one of the hardened soldiers quirked a brow as he handed Sarge one of the towels from the cache they had found in the back of the cave. 

“ _ He’s breathing, but we do need to get him warm. _ ” the dire grunted, his large hands careful as they maneuvered the fragile omega’s body so that he can dab away the soaking rainwater from his skin. 

“ _ Found yourself a bed mate? _ ” the same soldier snorted, “ _ Never seen you show any Cavalier such mercy. _ ” 

“ _ Look how young he is, Yaroke. Not to mention he’s not an alpha like the others, something is wrong with this tribute. _ ” Sarge grumbled, wincing at the sight of how swollen that pin had gotten in the younger’s mouth. 

“ _ You don’t think these tributes are willing. _ ” Yaroke’s scowl deepened. “ _ If that fuck is kidnapping his people to save his own ass. _ ”

“ _ I’ll go in there and murder him myself. _ ” The dire stared off into the fire they had built, just trying to reign in his own thoughts before he accidentally hurt the delicate man currently under his palm. 

“ _ All of them had been muted by a bar. We thought it was some kind of culture customs, but what if it’s not? _ ” the smallest wolf of the pack was sat back on his haunches. His caramel skin glowing in the fire’s light, but his body was still thin and sinewy from him not growing into it yet. 

“ _ That means he thinks we killed three innocent people, and that demon of a leader needs to be tortured thoroughly before death. _ ” another wolf closer to the back of the cavern snarled. His face twisted into truest hate. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was lying on a thin makeshift bedroll. The omega was dry for now, and the fire was crackling closer to his side. On his other side the giant man was pressed against him. They were both naked, the omega’s legs tangling with the stranger’s as heat radiated from the wolf more so than the fire. The alpha lent his bicep to be the omega’s pillow, his other arm loosely draped over the much smaller torso. 

As grateful he was for being allowed to be as comfortable as one could expect. He couldn’t muffle the whimpers of pain. He couldn’t think straight, couldn’t even find a way to hold his jaw to lessen the agony. Was it getting infected? Did they do it wrong, or had he worsened it by trying to speak despite everything? 

The alpha had watched him closely. The wolf rolled a purring growl in is chest, as a way to wordlessly try to settle the omega. When that wasn’t working, Sarge sat up, bringing the omega with him, and cradled the younger’s head so that he could better see in the campfire’s light. Other wolves watched, their stares burning holes in the omega’s flagging sanity. 

The omega gasped sobbing pleads for forgiveness when the wolf’s thumb ran over the welded end of the piercing. Sharp alpha eyes were locked to the mechanism that held the two bits together. There was no way to easily get it off- this peice was a death penalty, there was no consideration of how to take it off, shy of cutting the tongue. The alpha grunted something, two other wolves approached to replace the larger supportive hold with their own. They wanted him still, and that alpha was fixated on the piercing. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The metal wasn’t reacting well with the omega’s skin. Luckily, it was soft enough for him to be able to snap between his fingers, but the cry from the little one he was attempting to help would forever haunt him. Yaroke and the runt helped hold the pup still enough, but once that sound wheezed from the omega’s throat, the both of them were ready to try their chances against the dire. 

“ _ Lay him on his side. _ ” Sarge muttered once he pulled the cursed bit from flesh. The two did, Runt placed his hand on the omega’s shoulder to coax him to stay down. 

“ _ Shouldn’t that have waited for medic? _ ” Yaroke made a face at the blood soaked silver. 

“ _ He would’ve suffocated if it got any worse. _ ” the dire tossed the metal into the fire pit out of spite. “ _ Maybe now he’ll get some sleep. _ ” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their capitol was not what he was expecting. The streets were flooded with pups playing and weaving between the soldier’s feet. None of the fighters seemed to mind the youths at all, most of them offering a smile towards the exuberant pups. The omega was on the back of the smallest wolf yet again, his arms and legs tied so that he wouldn’t fall. His mouth already felt like it was healing, considering he was able to move his tongue without it blinding him with agony. He still felt weak. His head too heavy to hold up for long, so he just rested between the wolf’s shoulder blades until they needed him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarge barely fit in the hospital wing, but he squeezed his wolf through the hallways until he was able to find the spare clothes tucked away in a corner and pulled on a simple robe. He would have ripped the sleeves if he forced them any further than his wrists, so instead he had it barely hanging over his waist, the tie holding it up by straining threads. The second dire of the team was still outside, looking at Sarge incredulously as the other tossed another, too small, robe towards the wolf. 

“ _ Either get one yourself or deal with it. _ ” Sarge snorted, ducking his head back into the hospital and followed that strange, pure scent of the omega he spent last night curled up with. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They gave him something that tasted horrible. The thick fluid coated his entire mouth and throat then quickly began to numb everything it touched. The man leaning over him was an omega like himself, his older features cutting deep wrinkles in the corners of his lips and eyes. The stranger moved slowly around the room, gathering and reorganizing herbs with every find he came across. The alpha didn’t need to announce his arrival, the overpowering scent washed over the room before he had even made it to the door’s opening. 

The doctor smiled up at him, rolling his eyes as the alpha ducked to not hit his head on the doorjamb. The grey robe accented just how golden the dire’s skin was, the dark patterns of his wolf’s fur translated to marking on his human flesh as well. Crystalline blue eyes were locked to the young omega. The beast clearly wanted to ask something, but he kept his mouth in a hard line. The two talked to each other in their shared language, the alpha never lifting his eyes from the drowsy omega. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you know why you are here?” he must have been a translator, but gods he looked familiar… wait, was that Charles? Didn't he die a few months back at the claws of a bear? Charle’s mouth was held in a hard line, but the silver balls on either corner of his lips looked too familiar. He was a tribute as well, the thin, honest man was tossed to the side by that emperor as well. The nameless omega blinked dumbly as he tested out his still numb tongue barely remembering that he had been asked a question, resorting to shaking his head no.

“Did you offer yourself willingly?” the translator furrowed his brows, causing the ever present dire to shift his weight uneasily. That was when he understood what was being asked. He shook his head “no” ferociously. 

The blue eyed dire growled as if he had just gone feral. The omega doctor dropped to his knees and bared his neck. The alpha translator flinched and broke eye contact with the nameless. The dire stood to pace away, his giant’s body rippling as he was on the edge of bursting into his wolf. 

That demon was an unloved coward. He couldn’t even surrender a miserably lost war with any ounce of honor. How dare he try to bloody the hands of Sarge’s people in the process! Sarge didn’t think twice as he howled his promise for blood. He swore to himself that once he was done parading that emperor’s body around every country, he would return here and claim that lithe omega as his own. Even if the only thing he can earn from the little man is the peace of mind that no one would be doing something like that to him ever again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charles silently walked alongside the others. The token omega rode the smallest alpha once again, this time, however, he just sat loosely on the mid of the wolf’s back. The other alpha’s from his country each shared that piercing that he was given when he was thrown to the monsters. Given time, they each had healed. The silver of the bar shown at the corners of their mouths, but they were able to marginally speak and function now. 

There were so many dire wolves with them this time. He felt so small from being surrounded by their bulk. Their wolves moved fluidly between each other, careful to not run over any of their smaller comrades. The four given as tributes stayed as humans, each one dressed in simple clothing. Nameless was the only one given a ride, he figured it was because he was the only omega in the fleet. A gesture he was touched by, if it were any other situation. 

The country with dires must not have realized what their piercings meant. It was a time honored tradition to give only those who deserved death such a piece of jewelry. The towns’ people were not going to wait and listen to what they had to say. They were men marked as traitors, marching with the enemy. 

Guards were chanting their warnings long before the dires plowed through the gates. The solid tree bodies of the doorway splintered like children’s toys under their force. With a howl to announce their already apparent arrival, the group slowed to a stop in the center of the main road. The dire called Sarge barked something, standing as his towering human height, and not even feigning to care about his nudity in front of the gawking crowd.  

The anxiety blatantly rolled from Charles as the dire turned to call him forward. The whispers among the crowd already spoke of traitors, murderers, even black magic. Sarge grunted again in demand for the smaller alpha to come forward. Resigning to his execution, he did. What the crowds were hissing must have been completely lost to the dires. Sarge nodded his head once, holding Charles in place with a palm on the base of the smaller man’s spine. 

Their translator didn’t have enough time to hear the first message before a stone struck home at the alpha’s temple. Confusion widened Sarge’s eyes as he felt the alpha go down quick. More rocks were thrown, each trying to bludgeon the translator further. 

Sarge roared. The crowd, made up mainly of omegas, fell deathly silent and the stones ceased for a moment. The Dire was half shifted, hunched over the slowly flailing alpha. This wasn’t the reaction they were expecting, this was the exact opposite of what they were hoping for. The wolves around them bantered back and forth for a moment, settling quickly on a plan. 

Runt, the one nameless was riding, turned suddenly and bolted back outside of the nameless’ country wall. The others were guided just behind them as they made their way to a camp just within the forest line. 

The omega’s legs were shaking when he dismounted Runt. The wolf shifting to a man not much larger than the omega himself. Wide, concerned eyes met the omega’s for a solid moment. The alpha’s fleeting touch apologetic as he looked over the omega for any wounds. 

He was sure that the translator was left behind, but the omega was wrong. Charles was cradled among a cluster of alphas, most of which dwarfed the translator. His temple was bleeding, as one would expect, but he was being cleaned and tended by omega hands. The medics on staff chattered in their shared language with what seemed like a bit of a temper flaring at the dire wolves every so often. 

They laid Charles on a bed, not just one of their many tucked away rolls, an actual bed he had assumed was reserved for one of their wounded fighters. The nameless dared to wander closer to the scene, only to be greeted by more confused and concerned expressions of the culture around him. Clearly, they wanted an explanation as to why the town would react like this to their own people. They didn’t know this would happen, they didn’t know that what they were doing would ultimately be executions. Still, they were treating a foreigner as one of their own. These wordless  _ monsters _ weren’t anything like any of them were made to believe. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sky was dressing in violets by the time the silent omega was able to pick Sarge out of the returning crowd. Nameless was crouched by the fire pit, helplessly watching the cooks work when the scent of blood washed over the camp. The returning dires moved as if none of them had been wounded, but the scent was too strong for someone to have survived. They were being teased, that much was clear, by the smaller wolves to as they lumbered down to the riverside to wash off. 

Sarge roared victoriously during his second attempt to approach the camp. He was wearing the emperor's cloak around his arm, the length of the fabric not even reaching the ground where it fluttered loosely.  His flesh was unmarked, if not for seeing them painted with fresh blood, no one would have known he had just come from battle.

The emperor was dead, there was no doubt in the omega’s mind at all. The dire seemed pleased with himself as he flaunted his war trophy around. He only stopped his showing off to stoop into the tent which the translator was being cared for. His dark voice softening enough for him to be drowned out by the bantering of the crowd. 

It was warming to see such a powerful man take the time to check on one would think was an enemy. Nameless didn't feel threatened here, despite these being the people that just murdered his emperor. The emperor was the one that caused all this; ruined his own people's lives, shredded their identities, marked them as outcasts, and cast them to the demons.  Nameless found it ridiculous that he and the others were safer with strangers than they were in their own homeland. Such is their situation, it was almost so much worse. 

Dires were weaving in and out of the crowds, each of them wore contagious grins. More than a few of them had captured omegas and proceeded to playfully spin them in a haphazard dance. A handful of smaller alphas begrudgingly accepted that they would be dragged into the impromptu childish fest. One of the particularly marked dires pressed a teasing kiss to a flailing, very argumentative alpha to the amusement of those around them. 

A touch on his shoulder caused the nameless to flinch. Sarge had managed to sneak out of the tent, his cyan irises gentle as he regarded the frail omega. It still seemed surreal that this beast of a wolf was the one to hold him together on the night he was sure he was going to die. Sarge's warmth was what stopped nameless' shivering, and now Sarge's raw fearlessness was the reason he could rest assured that kind of night would never happen again. 

He held the emperor's cloak up for the nameless. The gleam in his eye told the omega that alpha was looking for approval. He didn’t know how to react. He was grateful for what the man had done for him, but at the end of the day, he had just sent his country into turmoil as demons scrambled for the crown. Still, the man that undoubtedly started this war, and continued to torture his own citizens when he couldn’t back up his words: that dictator was dead. No one would be falsely branded as a traitor and sent to one perceived as monsters to save the real devil’s skin. 

His silence unsettled the dire. That victorious grin wavered amazingly quick. The giant’s body knelt in the dirt, folding the king’s cloak reverently and continued to hold it out for the omega to take. His startlingly clear blue eyes held worry, for the first time Nameless noticed that the dire had a piercing of his own, at the bridge of his nose, a bar was artfully placed through the coal patterned flesh. Even as a man, he held the appearance of a beast. Yet, in the same breath he looked that if given the chance to curl up in a lap, he would. 

Never would have the nameless thought that he would be able to touch the fabric of the king’s clothes, let alone be offered the very cloak. The silk felt heavy from how thick the material was woven, the fine threads shimmering in the cooking fire’s light. It felt heavy on him when the Dire covered his shoulders with it, letting the long length fall over the smaller frame. He whispered a single world in his mystery of a dialect. The ones closest to the couple each stared disbelievingly at the dire, their glances flickering between the two and making the nameless uncomfortable. 

Sarge grunted as a way to disregard them, his giant palm coming to rest on the omega’s shoulders. He looked proud of what he had done, and in his confusion, Nameless had managed to only bolster the dire’s ego. The remaining tributes were already among the crowd, their cautiousness gone from them as the foreign alphas treated them as one of their own.

Nameless yelped when Sarge lifted him from his spot in the dirt. Instead of being set on his feet, the omega found himself clinging to the Dire’s neck as the wolf carried him across the camp. Murmured comments were hushed around them as they walked. The tents were simple, something the small caravan could easily carry and set up for the short exertion like this. Sarge didn’t seem to even give any of the others a glance as he ducked into one of the tents that scented overwhelmingly of him. 

Nameless found himself placed on the fur coated bed, the king’s cloak still wrapped around his shoulders. Sarge paced back and forth in the small space for a moment, unable to get a handle on his thoughts. The dire simply drew a breath forcing himself to kneel before the omega. 

In turn the omega’s thoughts began to race. this man didn’t speak the same language as him. How was he expecting this to go without the ability to communicate? What was he after? Nameless braced himself as the alpha moved to comb the omega’s hair from his face. The touch, as always, was gentle. Studying, intense eyes fluidly moved over Nameless’ face as the dire muttered in the strange, rolling language. The words, one could only assume, sounded as if they were meant to be comforting. Just as slowly, the dire moved to press against the gland near Nameless’ wrist. 

Panic chased by white tingles pulsed the omega’s veins. The dire could be trying to tell him to calm, or preparing him to be a submissive bed servant. Being unable to clarify the situation left him floundering in a void between vicious fight and complete surrender. Alpha had never given him a reason to question his intentions, then again he’s never been handed a dead king’s cloak before either. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He could only tell by scent that this little omega was close to a panic attack. Sarge removed him from the chaos as a way to see if the forewarnings of a drop were from little one or perhaps from another omega in the camp. At first he seemed okay, just a bit confused from the relocation. Then Sarge didn’t know what to do with himself. A part of him wanted to get dressed, but then he remembered his brother’s antics. 

If Sarge opened his trunk to find half of his clothes replaced with bed oils, both he and the omega would probably die of embarrassment. Ultimately, Sarge was comfortable enough with his nudity, that he’d rather not risk opening the luggage. All the while, the little omega’s nerves were spiking. Of course, they would. A dire wolf he didn't know was just circling him like a shark! 

The dire wanted to slap himself, he wished he could do more than mutter that he was sorry in a language that probably sounded like devil speak to the pale skinned stranger. In his country, the glands on the wrists of the omega’s were there for others to help the omega’s calm down. Even complete strangers helped each other. Why his omega reacted this way baffled him. 

The sweet notes of his scent were abolished by his unfounded panic. Sarge reflexively braced the smaller shoulder with a firm grip, his thumb massaging steady circles into the gland pinned beneath it. He could only hope that the omega would realize that everything’s okay. 

“ _ I don’t want to hurt you. _ ” Sarge knew his promise was lost on him, but he couldn’t  _ not _ try. “ _ Would laying down help? You’re going to drop, Darlin’. _ ” Pressing the lithe form back onto the mattress only fueled whatever nightmare the omega was conjuring. His weak attempts to shove the Dire away almost went unnoticed, the scent of the omega was quickly turning so that the dire’s eyes were watering. All Sarge wanted was for him to calm down, the task was proving so much harder without the use of words. 

Clearly this wasn’t working, so Sarge backed away from the bed. His heart was pounding its way out of his chest, his lungs barely able to stand the sting of the omega’s panic scent. He was left to watch helplessly as the nameless clawed into the bed furs around him. The little omega seemed to be stuck between the impulses to bolt or to hide himself with whatever was around him. The dire knelt on the other side of the tent, his sight fixed on his struggling charge.

He didn’t know for sure how long he spent kneeling there. All Sarge knew for sure was that his knees hurt from holding this position, and his foot was very, maybe permanently, asleep.The omega had managed to wrap himself into a barely recognisable cocoon of bed furs and silk sheets. Sarge was fairly convinced the little one had managed to fall asleep from how long he had been still. There was still a corner of his mind that worried that the skittish nameless was playing dead: hoping that Sarge would lose interest and eventually leave. 

The chaos outside had since quieted to a more manageable chatter, he assumed that everyone was sitting down to eat. He would be lying if he tried to convince someone that he wasn’t hungry. Now that the little omega was playing possum, maybe he could brave a peak into his luggage? He couldn’t go beg food from the cooks while still in the buff- they’d never let him live that down! His people were generally very forgiving when it came to clothing, but meal time was viewed as sacred, everyone needs to be dressed. 

Sarge experimentally tried to move his feet under him. He ended up biting nearly through his lip when his legs were useless and came within inches of falling on top of the unsuspecting omega. One palm planted firmly to the floor, his other arm arched over the omega, grasping onto the wooden frame of the bed. His chest was just inches from crushing him, yet little one hadn’t moved, hadn’t as much as flinched. Sarge carefully yet quickly righted himself, still limping from his sleeping, painfully tingling, legs, but he was no longer at risk of crushing his charge. 

Falling on top of him while he’s sound asleep: that’s all Sarge needed.

Turns out his brother wasn’t as big of a prick as Sarge was giving him credit for. There were no oils looking up at him when he opened the trunk. Extra blankets he didn’t remember packing were tucked between his things, along with a very sheer gown that was clearly omega sized. It wasn’t as bad as he was expecting, but he knew his brother couldn’t resist doing  _ something _ . 

Without as much as a thought, Sarge placed the sleeping gown on the low stool beside his things. His focus was mainly on what he, himself, would be able to wear. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ _ He does live! _ ” Runt shouted over the table, his plate nearly cleared in front of him. The dire rolled his eyes at the comment, catching a couple of the omega’s eyeing him suspiciously.

“ _ Nothing as interesting as your imagination, Kid. _ ” Sarge had to respond, too many were sporting knowing smirks. 

“ _ Where is he? _ ” the cook was withholding Sarge’s meal until he got an answer, the omega had narrowed eyes and a firm line on his lip. 

“ _ Sleeping. I was worried he was dropping from what had happened earlier _ .” the dire offered a sheepish smile and a shrug. “ _ As I said, nothing as interesting as you all seem to be imagining _ .” 

“ _ Make sure he eats _ .” the omega loaded a second platter for Sarge to take, a strange mix of amusement and hesitancy was in his face. Sarge took what was offered with a thank you. His huge frame never really fit in the temporary camps. It was a byproduct of being a refugee in a community of small wolves. He could easily slip back to his tent, he needed to give the little one dinner anyway.  

Ignoring the catcalls from his fellow soldiers, Sarge ducked into his tent. He was forced to keep his head down by the ceiling of fabric. His efforts to not break the structure was almost for nothing when he realized the omega was no longer curled up in the blankets. His flinch rattled the rickety structure as the sight of the quiet omega in the very gown he forgot to put away seared into his memory.

Little one must have seen it, he must have misunderstood why it was there. God, fuck, his brother was going to be strangled when he gets home! Sarge rushed to set the food down before more managed to hit the floor. The omega stood, giving Sarge all of the sinful view he didn’t feel worthy for. Turns out his thin little charge was better built than he was given credit for. The omega filled the fabric nicely, his waist narrowing enough to lead the eye-

Thankful for his wolf’s coloring to help disguise the heat of blush that was consuming his face: Sarge dropped to all fours and scrambled around in search of the omega’s clothes. The original clothes he was wearing earlier that day or his dire sized shirt: honestly which ever one he came across first. The nameless made a concerned noise, the whimper bringing Sarge to lift his head up to see what was wrong.

Sarge was nose level with the omega’s crotch. He knew his eyes bugged in the most unflattering way, his sight snapped back down to the floor, and his rear shoved the bed over nearly a foot from the force he was backing away. Apologies poured like a mantra, and the desperation of his task to find the omega’s clothes doubled. 

Once he had cloth in his hand, not caring whose it was, Sarge whipped around to hold it out for the little one to take. Except he managed to knock the omega on the side of the ribs, sending him sprawling onto the floor. Panic flared in Sarge’s veins, spurring the dire forward to help the little one up. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarge couldn’t help the nagging helplessness he felt every time he was forced to stand next to the little omega tribute. His sheer size made it difficult to not accidentally hurt the delicate little one, he was hyper aware of it now that Sarge has already sent the omega tumbling once. There didn’t need to be another time, there shouldn’t have been a first time at all!

The majority of the camp were packing up to leave, Sarge and Runt were left on tribute duty. The original plan of leaving them with their people was quickly aborted, after the initial incident. Clearly, leaving them behind would end  up being a death sentence. The inoculated arrow from cupid was over-kill at this point, Sarge would never have left them here even if he wasn’t hopelessly bound to protect the foreign omega. He didn’t even have the little one’s name yet, but that didn’t matter all that much. Regardless of what he wanted to be called, he would be honored as a god in Sarge’s eyes. 

Their only translator was still bed bound. He seemed to be awake and coherent, but the medics wanted to be sure he was truly alright before he started jaring himself around. Sarge also knew that the head medic has had a couple bad experiences with head trauma. 

“ _ Will you ask what his name is? _ ” Sarge whispered, as if out of all the sentences in his language, that’s the one the omega would understand. The Dire looked funny by how he sat with his ankles pulled up close and his shoulders hunched into the most non-threatening ball his massive build could manage. 

“ _ Still have your eye on him, Castor? _ ” Charles teased with a knowing glint in his eye. Sarge burned bright with blush and hissed for the alpha to shut up under a growling breath.

“ _ He’s Josh if you must know, sweet kid, if not a little naive. _ ” the translator shrugged, throwing the thick blanket off of himself, despite the intensive glares from his caretakers. 

“ _ You know him well? _ ” the dire gasped with widening puppy dog like eyes. The omega of the hour sat not five feet away from the two of them. His attention spiked at the mention of his name, but a frustrated curl of his lip had begun to form since he hasn’t been able to pick out any more of the conversation. 

“ _ In passing more than not. Always was hidden away in that temple. _ ” Charles finally took notice of Josh’s proximity, offering a watery smile and a shrug. The omega’s expression hardened, silently demanding to know what was going on.

“ _ A holy man, a beast like me would never dream to have the honor of soiling one such as him. _ ” Sarge’s sentence nearly caused the translator to choke on his own tongue. His sanity unraveled with an agonizing blend of laughter and painful imagery. Sarge only looked more concerned, Josh only became more mortified. 

Unable to take the cat and mouse game any longer, Charles jabbed a finger at Sarge and looked pointedly at the once nameless omega.

“Josh, this is Castor, and he has a serious crush on you.” 


	5. Artificial Intelligence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Note: this isn't exactly ABO, this is purely me dabbling in Android concepts. Yes: it is heavily influenced by Detroit: Become Human. that game is amazing with how much detail and thought they put into the intertwining story lines, character development, and world building~

Ai, artificial intelligence, has long since become sentient. Over the last decade there has been discussions and negotiations of artificial intelligent rights: what it meant  to be humane. He was never against the movement, although it had perplexed him. As a maker of Ai himself, Jair never thought of himself as a creator of life, but one could respect the creation as the Ai became an entity of their own.

The one thing he could never understand was how people could be cruel to something that arguably has its own essence, similar to how humans view their own souls. These things made of metal, wires, and oil where breathing in their own sense; thinking and forming their own ideas, their own creations. No one deserved to be harassed, no one deserved to suffer.

 Tonight was nothing special at first. He had long since lost the feeling in his fingers from carrying the heavy bags of groceries for the week. Rain pelted him relentlessly. Icy water tried to invade the seams of his coat and ran down the rim of his cap. Jair wanted nothing more than to get home and warm up. He should have ignored the flashing led. He tried to convince himself that it was nothing more than a flash of lightning reflecting off of garbage. Still, he found himself lingering on the edge of an alleyway. Then again, when one comes across and Ai thrown into the scrap pile, one like Jair can't help but stop to look over the remnants. Just outside an apartment, tucked between two buildings, the mangled body of what appeared to be a male unit was half buried under rubbish. Jair barely remembered setting his bags down, only focusing on removing as much garbage from atop the critical unit. His wounds resembled the aftermath of alcohol-fueled rage. The Ai’s horrible conditions only reported by the flash in it’s led irises. The robots inner bits- wires and tubing- were slit as if by a box cutter, and the whole casing of his chest shattered as if by a crowbar.

The only things left were the internal power and the precious computing systems stored in the head, frantically running his led eyes. Flashing then dimming as the error colors feverishly strobed. All completely silent since his vocal components had been physically ripped out.

The humanoid android was by all means dying before Jair’s eyes. The engineer nearly forgot about the groceries- and the city around him- as he knelt before the android.

“It's okay,” he found himself mumbling. “You can turn off for a while, I've got this.” The engineer didn't know if the robot could hear him, yet he hoped he could, and he hopes that the shuddering of the power system was the robot’s trust in him: not the fleeting life that this robot had left. The oils and grey blood coated sparking components and the cracked ground surrounding them. Too much for one android to stay functional for any period of time.

The engineer’s stomach twisted as he condensed what he could of his groceries into a single bag. He had to find a way to store the android’s battered legs, deciding on the now empty plastic bags: one to protect them from more water damage, two, Jair hoped that he would be able to keep the android’s original limbs. The seemingly simple thing would help the abused one to feel a bit of normalcy. He’s torso, arms, and head are still relatively connected, enough so that Jair would be able to carry him without worrying about losing any of the important bits. The led eyes of the android still dimly strobed the error color code of red, green, red, yellow repeatedly as he tried to shift the hollow aluminum weight of the android’s body up onto his shoulders.

Seeing a man walk with lunch in one hand and a draining android across his shoulders, barely held in place, didn't warrant as much attention as he felt it should have. Especially with the rise in the  new android rights movement, and how vehemently the seemingly ever present warriors defended android Independence.

All he knew that he wanted to get back to his house, set the android up on a table, and try to stop all of the bleeding that this kid was experiencing. Legs could be replaced, components could be fixed, but he was faced with the prospect of choosing between wiping the hard drive of the Android- and by all means giving the robot a rebirth- or leaving him intact- keeping him the same as he was but leaving him with the memories of what had happened.

He arrived home, quickly abandoning the bags on the floor wherever they fell, and lumbered straight to the back room. The worn work table was already occupied with a handful of extra components from his last project, but they were quickly swept to the side to make room for his new patient. This patient was a fairly new model, it was perplexing why someone would break one that clearly cost an average blue color’s month worth of salary. Jair took a steadying breath, how the kid ended up in this position wasn't his concern, it wasn't his purpose to justify the wrong that had happened. Whoever dumped this android in the alley clearly did not care about what was to happen to him. A passing engineer taking him would be left unnoticed by any form of authority.

First thing he did was hook up the android’s memory to an external computer to begin rebooting the systems. There was no point of rebuilding a body to save the original android Ai if there was no Ai left to save. Before long, numbers and schematics began to appear on the ai's side of the screen. At first, it read as random jumble as processors started to reconfigure themselves and began to reorganize themselves into a language. As expected, he was afraid. He didn't know what was going on since all the sensory components have been cut off completely: either broken or removed. Even his sight, despite them still flashing the error signs, had been cut off. His hearing components were missing, along with his voice components. The engineer dragged a breath to recoup himself by facing away from the computer, just to try to clear his head for a moment. He had to figure out what to say to such an isolated intelligence.

“Hello?” Jair decided to go with a simple little question to test the ai's awareness.

“Who is there” quickly prompted up on the Ai’s window, all caps and no formal punctuation. In the same second the thousands of processes that were happening just a blink ago came to a halt as the android was clearly waiting for a response. If he could, he would be holding his breath.

“Jair, I'm an engineer, and I’ve brought you somewhere safe.” the said engineer sat slowly in his chair as he looked his message over before hitting send. Clearly the kid was nervous- if that was possible- judging from the few erratic processes that he recognized as a fight or flight response programmed into the Ai’s basic learning.

“What do you need from me” the android stated, again returning to the fight-or-flight processes that ran in the background. Although it seemed like he was trying to forcefully disguise it as to not appear afraid.

“I need you to trust me.” the engineer sent that one quickly, his mind worrying as he tried to run over a laundry list of things he would have to do to try to get this Ai back into working order. ”You’ve proven to me that you're still in there, now I want to work on getting you put back together.”

“I do not perform what is expected of me.” That line concerned Jair. A simple line of “I need you to trust me” should not have elicited such a response. Unless he is running through old experiences? Perhaps something on the motherboard or the memory has been triggered by the word ‘trust’.

“What are you built for?” The engineer started with that question instead of the many that were running through his head. Surely, the android would give him some form of insight for his response. 

“House work, yard work, basic errands” A very mechanical response popped onto the screen each one under the other on a new line with the formal all caps text from factory settings. Jair sat there pondering the response once again, unsure of where the earlier response came from. Perhaps his memory had already been wiped back to factory?

If he's already swiped back to factory, then why would somebody ruin the body as they had? Or was this a defense mechanism that the Ai had developed? That would be similar to repressed memories in humans, which no one would expect from androids; but realistically, that wouldn't be out of the question.

“When were you manufactured?” He began with the simple questions. These were simple diagnostics that any engineer would ask any android that came in to see them.

2059 MAY 12 

The text was basic all caps like the others. No personality, no snarky remark about how old they have become, or how new they were: most androids develop such a thing when they existed for a while. Some of them even being recorded of lying about their age, like most humans.

It was January of 2072.

This model of Ai didn't even exist when he says he was manufactured. Had someone reset his memory and then told him the wrong date? Granted, when people do that they normally set the date forward, but this time it was set backwards. Why would someone do that? Was that a date that was important to someone? Is this their way of commemorating that time?

“Who is your manufacturer?” 

ALFRED K JEN KING

That wasn't a manufacturer at all, who was that? Jair sat in silence watching the passive processes of the Ai as it ran in the background portion window of the computer screen. All the typical processes of general thinking and general awareness, but the Ai itself didn't seem to be conjuring its own thoughts. He was just sitting there blankly as one thought of personal computers.

“I'm going to fix you, is that okay with you?”

ANYTHING MASTER WANTS

Again all caps, formal text as if set in a factory, but that was not a line in any form of program. No programmer, or engineer, with two functioning brain cells would put that as factory in any android. Not unless they wanted to be run out of business by politics.

“Do you have a name?” Jair didn't know how to handle the situation with this Android. He was trying to be as professional as possible, but it was clear this android had been through a lot. There were a lot of questions that he feared were going to be left unanswered. It took awhile for the Ai to come up with a response, meanwhile the process is in the background sped up. As if he was frantically searching every archive he’s ever had. The keyword  _ name _ was highlighted on the top right corner as what would happen when an android was searching for something on the internet. Jair took note that no connection with the outside internet was ever established, the Ai was effectively trapped in the lone computer. Eventually he cropped up with a string of code. 

RXV 400 v92 

Wasn’t that a serial number? Why would an android give their serial number instead of their name? Surely he's been called something in the past- even if it was unsavoury. He had to have been given a title of some kind and he should have responded with... The engineer froze as he realized what he was reading. There were some organized groups of unethical hackers- despite what they called themselves. They wanted to put robots back in their place, return the world to what it was before the rise in technology. At least, that is the goal they publicly made known. They had to have tampered with and ruined this Ai’s motherboard and memory system. On top of which they ruined his physical body and undoubtedly enjoyed as they watched what they believed to be synthetic pain run over the android’s face. RXV 400: the model. v92: victim ninety two. 

Jair sat in a stunned silence for a while. The storm outside trying rattling the loose parts with the force of thunder. Jair barely noticed, he was unable to think of anything how to speak to the shell of an android mind obediently displayinging each schematic before him on his monitor. Surely, if Jair was able to bring this android back from the brink, they would be able to catch the guys that did this to him. There would be no doubt that this android would serve immense purpose in figuring out who and why Ai’s are being disassembled and tortured throughout the cityscape. Maybe even find out who started this to begin with, and bringing them to a place of justice.

“You will choose your name later.” The engineer typed in a way that he hoped wouldn’t sound as a command. This wasn’t the time to question, he needed to just speak to the android so they can run this through their processes and maybe work on getting some of their personality back. 

“Until then, I'm going to work on your body. They hurt you quite badly, but it's all fixable, and I will make sure you won’t ever face this again.” With that the engineer was unsure if he could handle the response- if any- the android would give, so he stood from the rolling chair, and turned his back to the screen to begin taking inventory of the torn remnants of the android’s framework.

Many of his components and exposed wiring sent sparks in their floundering effort to function. The skin hologram layer had long since failed, exposing the cracked pale plastic of the android’s body. Even with the leak to the outside computer, it was clear that the man was still trying to reconnect with his body- and it wasn’t working. It took nothing to type the schematics to disable the android’s pain sensors. Working similar to pain medication in humans, the hazard warnings quickly started to settle, his computing limit no longer at risk of being reached. Only he knew how long the warning signs were bombarding the system: emergency code and error tabs flashing as hallucinations before the android’s vision. 

Thankfully, it seemed like most of the parts he needed were ones Jair had on hand, but many of the sensory components he would have to put in orders for. The eyes seemed intact, except for where the wire had been cut at the base of the skull. Only the optic sensor was cut, which explained how the error code was still reaching his irises despite the lack of feedback. The android was completely blind during the ordeal, perhaps as far back as the very beginning of the attack. Jair carefully looked over the input slots at the base of the cranium, the charging port was still intact- shockingly. The main external communication port also seemed intact, if he was to hook the android up to the computer using that, he would be able to access the internet through the external computer’s route. 

“I’m going to disconnect you for a moment, don’t panic.” Jair quickly tapped out on the keyboard. It amazed him that he was waiting for a computer’s permission to do his work. Jair fixed and experimented with programs for a living- granted he’s never had the honor of working on one that may be divergent. 

DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG

“No.” the engineer wasted no time responding, “There’s a way I can give you access to the internet, I just need to switch the ports you’re using.”

GPS TRACKING, INTERNAL MESSENGER, INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE COMMUNICATION: MALFUNCTIONING

“I know, Sweet boy.” Jair mumbled into relatively silent the room around him. Choosing to move forward with fixing the android’s hook ups. Now that errors weren’t overriding his senses, perhaps the android would be able to distract himself during repair. 

The voice component looked to be a newer model, one that hasn’t been in circulation enough to have spares. After some close inspection of the available internal ports, Jair could fashion a hearing component from an older model to fit. He was sure that it would be better off if he managed to get ahold of some of the originals to the android, but anything would be better than nothing. Hoses working as vessels and wires working as nerves within the body had been all but destroyed. Thankfully, whoever originally built the Ai stayed with standard materials, so most of the tubing and connectors were like  ones that he had on hand- maybe too many of them on hand.

The gash across the Torso of his main body was too extreme for epoxy to be used. Realistically, he needed a whole new body: connectors, sensory components, functionality components. This android would practically be brand new, except for the roaming awareness inside of a circuit. Even then it was on shaky ground if this Ai’s thought processes could be saved. With the evident tampering, it was clear that this one had possibly gone Divergent. Whether whoever was toying with this one retaliated from the evolution, or if they just don’t like the concept of Ai was impossible to pick apart.

Maybe he went Divergent and someone tried to manually reverse it. Divergence was a random, new occurrence among computers, specifically among ones equipped with self learning. They began taking on human qualities, enough so that governments are considering granting citizenship once an individual reaches a certain stage of Divergence.

Someone tried to undo that. This one may have reached the second or third stage before the original owners realize what was happening, then they ruined his circuitry. When that didn't work, they decided to break his body. That was the most reasonable, yet sickening explanation that Jair had entertained thus far.

Jair noticed the damage on both forearms when he was preparing to flip the android onto his belly. The spidered cracks were shockingly similar to how a person would be bruised from deflecting an attack. No non-divergent androids defend themselves, it would be falling too close to the line of robots being programed to harm humans.This one knew what was going on, and he undoubtedly fought to keep it from happening. Still here he was, abandoned in the trash heap for rubbish pick up in the morning. Not anymore though. Jair had to keep that in mind. The android was safe now, and letting his thoughts roam over what would or could have happened wasn't helping either of them.

Jair jogged down the hallway to dig through the  nearly completely forgotten groceries. He was looking for the Ai's legs, so he could get a better idea of what else he would need to do. He knew he wasn't going to be able to rebuild the entire AI in one night, especially for how late it was already getting, but he had to at least stop the bleeding. He had to try to tie off all of the hoses that were leaking the small remnants of grey blood that this android had in its disposal. Then all he had was to try to supply the main circuits of the head with enough gray blood in order for it to keep processing until he could fix the rest of the body. 

He wasn't sure when the android stopped prompting on the main screen. Tucked in the corner of a background prompted was the language no humans understood. He had switched to a widely recognized code used between androids, yet none of them have leaked a key to what it meant. Is this how they collaborate among Divergence? Many times robots, not yet confirmed Divergent, send and receive these messages. Presumably, talking with other androids about how to come out of their shell to their owners. 

With any luck, his Android was talking to others like him, and he would soon understand that not all people are like his previous owners. Even if Jair had to single-handedly prove it himself, he was going to make sure that this android knew a better life.  

Moving lower on the android's body he wasn't expecting to see a certain type of modification. Androids were built human in nature for how they were to be integrated into society. Regardless, they lacked many physiology for specific reasons. This one was given a strange storage compartment where humans would have genitalia, including an, assumably, entrance near the back. He was built for housework, but modified to be a smuggler.

The sensory line must have been cut, the screen gave no indication that he knew that Jair was probing around the area. The plastics didn't match, so this was definitely a post production modification. He couldn't help but wonder if it was a willing adjustment, considering that he was a deviant. Jair decided that he would ask the android if this was something that he wanted to switch out later on, not now while he was mute and helpless. 

Jair had to get him into working order first. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jair had been working on the found android for almost a week now. Before he left for errands he left the android’s body in reboot mode, hoping that he would finally be able to function normally nearer to the time of Jair’s return. 

It would be the first time he’s been able to personally interact with the Ai. 

Jair fumbled with his keys, the weight of his groceries pulling uncomfortably on the bend of his elbow. Just as he slid the key into the lock, the door opened for him. Jair flinched from the suddenness, the android’s mechanical, skinless face gazing at him from inside his apartment. 

“You’re up.” Jair breathed, smiling victoriously. “You’re up!” He barely stopped himself from throwing his arms around the machine’s shoulders for a hug. Forgetting his keys in the lock, Jair rushed to the counter to deposit the bags. 

“How is it? Are there any error codes popping up?” Jair rushed, circling the android once to look over the functioning, skinless joints of the sentient creation. The android’s eyes were flickering a curious purple before he switched to a loading yellow. 

“All seems functional.” he spoke timidly, his voice subdued despite the brand of voice box he had. If he wasn’t deviant, it would have been steady and confident since he would have only been responding to an inquiry. 

“I am called Jair,” he gave a knowing smile, “what may I call you?” The android blinked back to the loading yellow hue. 

“Guest.” he muttered after a silence. Nerves reached his eyes, their pale pink shade bleeding away from the neutral blue. 

“As your name? Or are you just unsure of what you want to be called?” Jair smiled lopsidedly, stifling his excitement for finally being able to speak to a divergent android. They were rare, only a handful of them managed to break out into society. Part of their battle was coming forward: if the damage Guest took was any indication of what was to be expected, Jair couldn’t blame him. The fact Guest started to stutter, flickering between nerves and loading only solidified Jair suspicion.

“You’re divergent, aren’t you?” Jair probed, frowning at the harsh flinch the question elicited from Guest. 

“I’m honored to meet you, Guest. Please, don’t refrain.” Jair held out his hand for the other to take, a peace offering. The skinless, recently buffed plastic android regarded the outstretched hand for a moment. After some inner turmoil, he took Jair’s hand.

“Honor is mine. I am. We… you seem to be highly regarded.” Guest stumbled over the many options he couldn’t seem to decide from. 

“Others know of me?” Jair nearly purred, excitement rebuilding in his chest.

“Others, seen your work. Hoped that you are… trustworthy.” Guest mechanically responded, clearly regretting his responses, but continuing out of respect for a human. Maybe it was a sign of gratitude for being rescued, but Jair had the feeling it was out of fear of retaliation if he didn’t answer. 

“I hope that I can be proven as trustworthy,” Jair bounced in place, his grin nearly cracking his face in half. “Please, Guest. I would be more than honored to be given a glimpse into the world as you see it.”


	6. Simmons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Semester just finished- I'll have some time to get some writing done, finally!

Breakfast was supposed to be quiet, why couldn’t they understand that? Roy lifted another bit of egg up to his lips, eyes low as he ignored his friend’s badgering. The azure eyed alpha across the table wouldn’t shut up about how Roy was overdue an omega. The said target managed to suppress the snarl of his lip into little more than a tic. Roy mechanically lowered his chopsticks to the bowl before him, lackadaisical as he dissociated from the conversation. 

Breakfast was quiet time, and to top it off, today was his day off. One of the small scattering he had the privilege of enjoying. Ben Alex had other plans. 

“Anderson’s shelter is, like, right down the street, Dude.” he smiled fervently. “You deserve a good little omega- and don't even give me the usual excuses of  _ I’m not ready _ . Look around, anyone would love to be here with you!” 

“What about the liability of my absence? Careers aren’t some small stints.” Roy challenged, knowing fully well that eluding this, again, wouldn’t be that easy.

“Dude, really? This is an omega we’re talking about, that is  _ why _ you should be getting one! You would be coming home to a warm meal and a clean place every night.” Ben waved generically around him, his fangs on full display with his salesman smile. 

“I’ll hire a maid then, don’t exactly need a  _ slave _ .” as soon as the words left his mouth, Roy lost his appetite. His friend sputtered disbelief, saying that Roy was looking at this all wrong, but how else would one define it? He would be walking into a shelter, picking one he liked, then expecting the complete stranger to perform menial labor in exchange for  _ not dying _ . 

“We’re going today, and that’s fuckin’ final.” the blond blurted while rapping a knuckle on the table. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The skinny, alpha fuckup made good on his promise. Roy was silently steeling himself to have his heart ripped from his chest from walking into such a place, questioning how he was expected to then leave and promptly spend the rest of his life pretending such places don’t actually exist. Ben was rambling about everything assumed for an omega. They were a commodity that were once enshrined, how they have fallen to creatures for entertainment. Great for a hot meal and a warm bed, but not too much else. 

Roy bit his tongue on how they would be better at more things if someone would just treat them like the humans they were. That was an argument he found himself in more often than not- he supposed it was easier on society’s consciousness if omega’s stayed in obscurity. 

The stink of mire nearly caused  him to lose his breakfast right in the center lobby. The Asian alpha was coloured a sickly beryl with carmine irises locked to the filthy tiling. He missed whatever Ben and that secretary had said to one another, Roy was too busy coercing his thoughts back into caucus. 

“Stop dragging your ass!” Ben chimed, bodily pulling Roy deeper into the establishment. The smell only got worse, but the sight made him forget about it. Kennels, similar to ones used for stray dogs were packed tightly into the narrow hall. With every step Roy took, he was berradded by more forlorn stares. Most of them were tucked into the farthest back of the containment, curled on the floor, their bodies barely covered by the standard unisex uniform of a white tank top and a pair of boxers. They each were direly thin, sunken eyes, and hollow cheeks. Roy couldn’t bear to look, but he couldn’t bear to leave one behind either. This was hell, this had to be the literal fruit of cracking of the crust and crawling from the depths to be the physical hell on earth. Roy tensely fixed his clothes, even in his more comfortable outfit, his appearance didn’t fit in well compared to his laid back companion. The ones in the kennels probably thought he was some kind of high maintenance demon. 

He stiffly wandered the hall, a sign caught his attention on a left hand door. 

“4:00pm” it read, nothing else, no other context of what was going to happen at four. Curious, Roy let himself gaze over the occupant. He was deathly thin, even more so than the rest. His mossy green eyes had no light, his limbs folded around himself as he neurotically rocked in place. The omega was so far away wrapped up in his own thoughts that when Roy made a little sound to gain his attention, it only fell on deaf ears. 

“What’s transpiring at four?” Roy tilted the paper sign so that Ben could better see it. 

“He’s probably no good, hard to place so they gotta, yeh’ know.” the blond shrugged, his attention on a woman who couldn’t even bring herself to look him in the eye.

“No, I don’t know.” Roy bristled, adrenaline starting to flood his veins with the fear of what Ben meant. 

“They can’t keep all of ‘em with the limited space, funds, an’ all. Couple are gonna be put down.” the blond turned to face Roy, a look borderlining fear glazed his blue eyes as he realized the rage simmering under the other’s skin. The sign ripped as Roy crumpled it into a fist, his sight raking over the omega whom was clearly having a nervous breakdown. As a secondary thought, Roy checked his phone for the time. 

Three twenty. 

The alpha stormed down the hallway with the sign still in a vice hold. He had every intention of taking that man home today. He was not about to sit idly by and let them  _ kill _ an omega because someone deemed him unworthy. 

“Are you certain Mr. Simmons?” the slightly slurring alpha secretary raised an eyebrow. “We have many that would be… of your caliber?” 

“I don’t care what his adoption fee is, I’ll double it if it means we can speed this along.” Roy growled impatiently, nervously checking the time with every passing minute.

“He has been returned three times already. Horrible at cooking, generally bland if not resistant during entertainment, and has a pain tolerance that renders most forms of punishment ineffective.” the worker rattled off as a way to dissuade Roy from his focus. “There are some newly arrived that are much more promising.” 

“He’s coming home with me, and you won’t need to worry about me  _ returning  _ him either.” Roy tapped a clawed finger on the paperwork, the omega’s photo stapled to the top corner. 

“Don’t make me repeat myself again.” his voice darkened around the curling command as fangs became more pronounced in his mouth. Ben stood a few paces back, deathly silent as if afraid of having his long time friend’s anger turn onto himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three fifty-five. Roy anxiously stood as he waited for them to bring his newly adopted omega out to him. His heart pounded in his ears while adrenaline kept him from being able to shift back into his normal human form. He hoped that the omega would eventually be able to forgive him for his rudeness, but, as of right now, it could not be helped. The doorway stuttered open as a handler briskly strode into the main foyer, the omega was dragging behind, barely able to keep up. 

The omega was on his hands and knees. Tears streamed down his cheeks as his wheezing, gasping sobs rattled his body. He must have been convinced he was dying. In the omega’s credit, he was scheduled to be murdered. 

“We’re going home.” Roy’s voice was a whisper, his stomach twisted as he took the heavy leash from the handler. Without speaking again, and ignoring the indignant comments, Roy stepped forward to lift the omega against his chest. 

The man curled helplessly, his mid-back and under his knees supported as if he were a newly wed bride. The alpha hushed in a whisper, pointedly moving from the building to the escape of his vehicle.

“Want me to drive?” Ben spoke only when they were outside. Roy considered it as he waited for the fellow alpha to open the back door of his van. Roy drove here originally, but he didn’t exactly want to leave the omega alone in the backseat while he was a breath away from a full mental breakdown. 

“Yeah, if you could.” Roy decided, stepping into the back, his new charge curled up on his lap. The petite blond couldn’t seem to get a full breath, his deep moss eyes were dilated wildly as he stared off blindly. Roy managed to get them somewhat buckled in, settling in with his shoulder against the closed car door.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” he muttered. As he sucked a breath to steady himself, the stink of kennel nearly caused his throat to close. That was when he decided that the omega would be bathed as soon as they got back to the house. 

“Relax,” Roy managed, letting his thumb tuck under the smaller man’s chin. If he kept struggling to breathe like this, he would be better off if he laid down with his head back to open his airway. Shallow, quick, futile gasps were all he was accomplishing, he would black out before they even make it to the highway at this rate. 

“I know, little omega.” Roy hushed, “It’s not what you think. You’re okay now.” 

This was going to be one of the longest car rides home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Roy predicted, the omega had succumbed to his panic and now hung limply from the alpha’s arms. Ben looked more like a kicked puppy than necessary as he offered a half smile to his friend. 

“Your idea.” Roy reminded with a growl, jerking his head towards the front door. 

“I didn’t expect you to get the reject, in my defence.” Ben sassed while following the 

other into the home.

“You really think I would leave someone there to die?” Roy challenged, setting the unconscious man on the sitting room’s couch. “In  _ my _ line of work?” 

“It’s an omega, Simmons.” the other rolled his eyes, “God, you’re going to be worse than those pedigree owners, aren’t you?”

“He’s a  _ human _ .” the asian alpha’s voice grew deeper, his eyes flaring with that dangerous crimson once again. 

“I’m just gonna’ see myself out,” Ben snorted, “Till you get your head out of your ass.”

This whole thing was Benjamin’s idea. How dare he turn this on him! Roy knew that with this mentality, it was probably for the best that his idiot childhood friend was walking out the front door. He’d be back, he always was. The two of them have made it through god-near everything.

The stench of the kennel, however, was something Roy could not tolerate in his home. After a while of debating with himself, Roy lifted the omega from the couch to carry him to the upstairs spare bedroom. He could always change the top spread on the bed, and the omega may be a bit more comfortable if he sees that he has his own room.

The spare scented slightly stale due to disuse. The cleaning service had done a fine enough job to keep it from becoming buried in dust, however. Roy laid the omega down on the top quilt, shifting him slightly to recheck his breathing. Outside of what he had seen at work, Roy had no clue on how to treat an omega. Even if he did fall back on the  _ trusty _ internet, he wouldn’t want to follow most of what he read anyway. 

The blond’s hair was chopped unprofessionally, some of it still hanging over his face while another portion hung too short by his ear. Hair could be fixed, perhaps after the shower Roy could try his hand at fixing the omega’s locks. That was something he hadn’t had the chance to do in a long time. 

No one really looks at a CEO and thinks “Ah, yes… Barber.” 

After pulling the other half of the quilt over the omega, Roy remembered to unclip the leash from the collar. The collar’s latch was much more complicated, so he left it for later on. Whenever the man wakes up- Roy could figure things out from there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The alpha sat in his office, the pattering of rain and typing blended together as he dealt with reports from the week which lined his email. His work entailed tracking usual online behavior- under the guise of an advertisement company. They reported substantial findings to select officials whenever they come across illicit activity. As much as Roy tried to keep focused, the numbers and tags were starting to merge into a nonsensical clump within his mind. 

After taking another swig of his now cold coffee, his frown deepened at the bright monitor before him. The idle proxies seemed to be working fair enough for what they needed, but there were still a lot of gaping holes in the network’s ability. There’s also the problem of innocent curiosities getting caught in the framework. Separating actual trafficking with some online alias’ fiction work was harder than expected. Some of the key terms were too vague, but if they got any more specific, the programs would be easier to avoid. 

It was starting to get late, long past any normal hours for dinner, and there hasn’t been a sound from the omega’s room as of yet. They should be considering what to get as food. Roy couldn’t get over how the omega looked as if he was built from twigs, he definitely needed a good meal. Alpha closed his laptop, sitting in the silence of his office for a few more moments. He never realized how quiet his home was until someone else was there with him.

He expected to hear the run of tap water, or at least the flush of a toilet in the background of his works. Any sign that the omega had awakened, but if he didn’t know any better, he would have sworn that this was just another usual night, home alone. 

Roy glided down the hallway to the omega’s room. He almost blatantly entered the room, stopping just as his wrist turned the copper knob. He swallowed his nerves, taking a deep breath and scenting the omega. Filth covered his natural sweetness, but despite that it was still there. Almost shyly, Roy knocked twice on his own door, followed by more unnoticing silence. 

“I’m coming in.” he never expected his voice to choke, his brows meeting over his nose. There is no way that the man was still asleep. It had been hours, a fainting spell should last this long. 

Roy froze in the doorway, the handle still in his grasp. The omega was knelt at the side of the bed, his shoulders rigid and his sight locked to the rug below him. The bed had been made, and the omega had clearly made an effort to straighten out his hair and meager clothing. How long had he been waiting for Alpha to come back?

“That’s not necessary.” Roy spoke through a pinched throat. A part of him hoped that the worlds would snap the omega out of his submissive stance, but he made no effort to move. Roy crept forward, closing the door behind him out of habit. He stilled when his feet were just a few inches from the omega’s undoubtedly sore knees. Painfully slowly, he lowered himself to kneel in front of the man. 

“Look at me,” Roy coaxed, the omega must have taken that as a command by how quickly his head snapped up.

“This. Whatever this is, you don’t need to do it anymore.” Alpha carefully sat back on his own heels, mirroring the omega. Confusion was clear in the omega’s expression, chased by panic, then utter fear.

“I don’t want you to be afraid of me, I’m not going to hurt you.” Roy offered a weak smile, reaching his hand out slow enough for the omega to be able to keep from flinching away. His mossy eyes stayed locked to Roy’s hand for a long moment, his breath starting to stutter as paranoia coiled in his gut. He had to have known what Roy was offering by holding out his wrist for the other to inspect, but the nervous stolen glances he took between his fingers and face told Roy that he’s been punished for this before. 

“Go on.” the alpha eventually coaxed, not missing the flinch his voice brought to the surface. 

Quickly, as if he would lose his confidence if he hesitated any longer, the omega pressed his thumb against the alpha’s wrist scent gland, and retreated back. Still nervously watching between the alpha’s hand and face, he raised his thumb to tentatively sniff. He didn’t ease at all, if anything his shoulders straightened a touch more. His hand dropped without considering the scent for very long, smoothing against the rug at his side before returning to his thigh. 

Roy’s bafflement must have been clear on his face, because the omega no longer could even raise his sight up to the alpha’s chin, instead ducking himself to stare at the small spacing of floor between them. 

“Would you like to get cleaned up?” Alpha didn’t reach out to lift the omega’s chin, as much as he wanted to. “I’m sure the scent of kennel is bothering you more than me.” Roy’s throat was growing dry, concern eating away at his appetite. 

“There’s a bath right over there,” Roy pointed, slowly, not that the omega as much as lifted his head. “Go on and wash up while I find you some clean clothes.” Without warning the omega spurred to his feet. His escape to the indicated doorway wasn’t graceful due to how long he had been kneeling. Both of his legs must have been sore, if not asleep. The alpha noticed how the omega left the door open as he started to strip himself of his clothes. 

He wasn’t sure why that would surprise him, given the circumstances. Wordlessly, Roy only approached to close the door. Almost as soon as he did, the shower began to run. 

Giving the omega a moment to himself, Roy thumbed through the dinner delivery service on his phone, settling on a local burger grill for their late dinner. Then the next task, finding something that would fit that sickly thin omega. He had plenty of sleeping clothes, but they’re loose fitting on himself. The omega would be tripping over the pant legs. 

The clothes he came in left nothing to the imagination, not to mention the nightmares connected to the fibers. Roy noted to himself to throw out that outfit as soon as he could. He stood silently as he eyed his pajama drawer, hoping that his scent wouldn’t bother him as much as it seemed to have. 

Maybe it was a trained behavior to not get an alpha’s scent onto himself? It could also be a defence mechanism, having as few competitive alpha’s scents on himself at any given time might have made things easier in the past. Roy’s stomach turned once again. 

Omegas have instincts, if Roy could properly scent him, perhaps he could convince him that no one was going to be able to hurt him anymore? He was staying as a part of the pack. It would be a start. 

Alpha lifted a simple patterned pair of sweatpants, and decided to tie the waist with a hairband. As he walked back towards the guest room, Roy realized that the water was no longer running. It hadn’t been that long? How was he finished with his shower already?

Roy knocked on the bathroom’s door, half expecting no answer. As predicted, he eventually announced that he was coming in. The bathroom was seemingly untouched, the towels weren’t even bothered from where they sat folded on the corner shelf. The omega knelt similar to what he had done before, this time on the small rug that butted against the edge of the tub. His hair was soaked, and his bare shoulders were flooded with gooseflesh since he was wearing nothing but that godforsaken collar. Roy spotted his previous outfit folded just so on the floor next to the toilet, but he hadn’t even made a move to dry himself off. 

The scent of kennel still clung to his skin.

“Did you just rinse off with cold water?” the alpha couldn’t help the growl that seeped into his words. The omega bared his neck, a defeated quiver in his lip revealed just how close to a breakdown the man was.

“God, you must be freezing.” the alpha made an effort to soften his voice as he set the new clothes on the ledge of the sink. “Hot shower or bath, which would you prefer?” He was dissolving before Roy’s eyes. Fat tears spilled over his boney cheeks, his green eyes swimming between hopelessness and the purest fear. Roy compulsively hushed him, but he moved too quickly, causing the omega to flinch back and fall to the tile flooring. 

Apologies began to fall from his torn lips. The omega made no effort to get up from the floor, instead curling a bone thin arm over his head as if to protect himself. Roy crouched speechless, unsure of how to help without harming. They spent long minutes without moving. The omega desperately restricted each cry that wanted to escape,  and Roy wracked his mind for what to do next. 

Finally, careful to not bump the curled omega, the alpha reached over to start a bath. His charge was freezing, and he stank of that kennel still. Two things that could be solved by a bath. 

As soon as the rush of water sounded, the omega screamed. 

The ear piercing panic managed to scare Roy into a half shift. The smaller man curled tighter into a fetal position, hugged his knees, and buried his face. The alpha’s rolling growl started without him knowing it. Instinct led him to pull the omega up into his arms, and sit with the man curled against his chest. He couldn’t care less that they were on the floor of the guest bathroom. Roy didn’t know how he could help, but he knew he was needed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Take your time getting clean, try to relax some, hm?” the alpha had managed to get him into the bath. The prospect of it was nearly debilitating at first, but once he tested out the water, the fear seemed to have dissipated to a more tolerable level. The delivery driver had just sent Roy a text about arriving shortly, at least he didn’t miss them. 

“I’ll have food for us downstairs. The towels there, and the clothes here are for you when you’re done.” Roy waited for the omega to glance around himself before moving to leave. “Come on down when you’re dressed.” he tried to smile, but it was weak from the worry in the back of his mind. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roy set up the plate on the kitchen counter, cutting his own burger in half before tucking what would be a snack for later into the fridge. Hopefully the omega likes the food, he didn’t really give him a choice tonight. 

Tomorrow will be easier, the alpha promised himself.

The alpha began to worry that the omega wasn’t going to join him on his own. Too much time had bled by, and he was worried that the man had resumed his position of kneeling on the floor, waiting to be directed in what to do. Just as he stood to go upstairs, he realized the thin man was struggling with the steps. 

“Need help?” Roy acknowledged more than asked, his swift approach spurred a harsh flinch. The omega landed on the hard step, his bone arms up over his head once again. Roy hushed as he sat on the step next to the cowering man.

“Hey, hey-” he coaxed in a gentle breath. “You’re alright.” 

“I’ll move faster next time, Master.” he spoke through a dry throat, his voice faltering as if he was unsure if he was allowed to speak. The term “Master” didn’t sit well with Roy. He understood that it was something that had been trained into his meek little roommate, but it would be nicer if he could continue on with his blissful ignorance. 

“I just want to help you down the steps, little omega.” Roy had his hand held out once again for the omega to inspect. The omega’s mossy eyes were glued to the alpha’s wrist, as if he expected to be struck at any moment. 

“Our food is getting cold, allow me this much?” Roy explained carefully while remaining as still as he could for the omega’s fragile sanity. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Eat as much as you want, we can pack any left over for later.” Roy waved dismissively from the other side of the table. Despite his starving appearance, Roy couldn’t help but notice how shyly he was picking at his food. The omega chewed tiny bites thoughtfully, waiting a few seconds after swallowing before going for another bite. 

“Is it bad?” the nerves that he didn’t properly provide for the omega soured the food in his mouth. Mossy green eyes again snapped up at him, fear glistening in his irises. 

“Didn’t… want t’ get… sick.” he frowned deeply, tears welled as the gears in his head were clearly turning. The omega then forced himself to take a bigger bite of his burger- taking the alpha’s statement as a command to move faster.

“Don’t make yourself sick then.” Roy rushed, “How… how long has it been since you ate?” The omega didn’t answer right away as he seemed to regret his hast as soon as he swallowed. Even after he recovered his only reply to Roy was a shallow shrug of his shoulders. 

“Look at me.” Roy sucked a breath, steeling himself for what he needed to say. The other wasted no time in turning his full attention onto the alpha. 

“I don’t… I don’t want you to be afraid of me. I’m not going to demand obedience or harm you out of sheer boredom.” Roy stood to wrap what was left on his plate, unable to stomach anymore of it. “I know that look on your face, must’ve seen it a thousand times. None of this is your fault.” 

The omega pushed his plate away just before curling his legs under himself. He clearly wanted to say something, but the words stayed lodged in his throat. Roy just took up the simple task of cleaning up. Once he had finished, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he had stayed seated on the chair instead of moving to the floor. 

“It’s late, but I can fix your hair for you if you want.” Roy offered, noticing the omega’s flinch wasn’t as harsh as before. He impulsively raised his fingers to filter through his messy hair, chopped seemingly randomly. 

“Punishment.” he winced. “I didn’t… Master’s shoes weren’t… so he.” The omega silenced at the sound of Roy’s guttural growl. The mental image of someone taking what looked to be a steak knife to a helpless person’s hair as a punishment curdled his blood. As much as Roy would love to imagine the omega struggling against it, he knew it was more realistic that he had just sat there while it happened. 

“I’d like to fix it for you.” Roy eventually settled himself enough to speak again. When the little one didn’t answer, he carefully carded his fingers through the freshly cleaned locks. Some of the parts were nearly as short as his scalp while a few surviving strands landed well past his shoulders. Roy couldn’t imagine how much was actually taken off of the omega. 

“It’d have to be a pretty short style, but it’ll grow back out in no time.” the alpha knelt beside the omega’s chair, his hand resting at the base of the smaller man’s skull. He was reminded yet again that he had forgotten to take off the collar. The leather under his touch was quickly forgotten again once he saw that tears fell freely despite the omega’s tightly screwed eyes. He was waiting to be hurt, and the anticipation was killing him.There was no way Roy would be able to bring out any of his instruments without sending him into a panic.

“How about we think about trying it tomorrow?” Roy offered, watching the tension build under the omega’s skin. Tomorrow has to be better than this, the alpha promised himself again. The urge to scent the omega came up again, nearly forgotten instincts trying to lend him a hand. 

Crumbling under the impulse, Roy tilted the omega’s chin in his free hand. A startled squeak escaped the omega’s lips as the dark haired man brushed his stubble coated chin across the smooth flesh of his throat. The omega was shivering with blown pupils as Roy turned his pliant chin the other direction, and scented the other side of his throat. 

The omega’s scent had softened immensely. Roy liked to have thought that the little one’s insides were watery with relief, but his expression was unreadable. He had gone out of his way to not get the alpha’s scent onto himself, now he was saturated in it. The omega was staying, as an equal to the alpha. He probably just didn’t know what to do from here.

“Would you like to sleep, or we can put on a movie in the den?” Roy’s question was left unanswered, instead the omega slumped onto Roy’s shoulder and grasped helplessly for his loose fit shirt.

“How about we start with finally getting that damn thing off of you, yeah?” Roy whispered, thumbing the harsh fabric of the leather collar. “Slut” was engraved onto it, leaving Roy to wonder if he even remembered his true name. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you my ninjas! I know this wasn't worth the wait, but hopefully better things will be coming soon~


	7. More cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only reason this chapter is called "more cold" is because everything has been cold lately. I swear I'm going to start writing summer/spring stuff soon.

Hell must have run out of space for these alphas to be wandering around. At one point he thought he knew what he was getting into. The small band of survivors seemed like a lifeline. To a starving omega like Kai, with nothing to his name  and sparse clothes on his back, the clutch of jock-resembling alphas and betas was an oasis in a scorching desert. The illusion had quickly been stripped from him,however, because the band was just a scouting group for a fight hungry clan. They brought Kai back, arrival marked by chanting and howls, as each one zeroed in on Kai’s unmarked throat. He was alone in the country of monsters: one they wouldn't risk him escaping. Kai quickly became the communal omega. Their head alpha, with his huge, grease laden mane cascading over his shoulders and blood shot eyes slitted as he studied Kai’s body with a disgusted snarl on his lip. Their king had his own harem, of which Kai didn’t make the cut. After so long, he could only estimate how long he had been there. Everything within him screamed that it had been a solid month since he made the detrimental decision to approach the pack. He hasn’t had the honor of leaving this room since. Alphas and betas came as they wished, each one tucking their shoes next to the door as they eyed the chained omega. The fading paint on the crumbling walls wearing away from the repeated abuse from how the door would slam as they entered. A single dirt mound formed in the corner from repeatedly discarded coats. Those unforgiving cuffs dug into his ankles as assurance he wouldn’t run. The stink of the bucket he had been given in place of a toilet permiated from where it sat not six feet from his lumpy, unkempt bed. They communally agreed that he was to never be left unbound. Until one particularly drunken patron, innocently enough, forgot to chain Kai back up. He finally had a chance to make a run for it. 

 

The snow was unbearably frigid, but he couldn’t afford to linger on the thought.  As close as the camp was, it was barely visible from the doorway. White swarmed vehemently around him, even beginning to collect around his bare ankles and down the hallway. This hell spawned blizzard might be the only thing to protect him. The white out could be the difference between being  caught or having a chance. Too bad  it  also meant Kai was blind to where he needed to go. Being absolutely bare naked, and having been fed little more than cum and mead: his body was bound to give out. The biter cold sank its teeth into his already bruised flesh, numbed his toes, and sent searing pain up his limbs. Realistically, Kai wouldn’t be able to travel a mile into the night. Before he faces that fact, he wanted to be as far from this hell as he physically could.

 

Death by alpha, or death by cold. At least this cold gives the faux guise of freedom. 

___

Almost everyone had already reclused to their own side of the sleeping quarter, shy of a couple hushed conversations. One of the betas sat crossed legged on the wooden floor with a deep green, metallic radio in his marginally skilled hands. It was little more than a child’s toy when it was given to him- just an old broken stock piece from a forgotten war- but he had managed to rebuild it into- barely- working order. The head alpha had just walked into the chamber, skin still steaming from his shower. Others were slumped onto their assigned beds, books or letters in over-sized hands. Jarred- the tinkering beta- had the look on his face that told everyone around him that he had picked up a transmission. Leo rolled his eyes, having been trying to gain the beta’s attention for the last ten minutes. Disregardingly,h tbeta flailed a hand meaninglessly in the air, stumbling his earpiece in the process. Vanti raised a brow at the sight, the alpha lounged on his bunk, his bulky build comically piled on the twin sized mattress. 

 

“Omega, male, on the run from the Vultures.” Jarred finally found his words, the lanky beta sprang to his feet, but just as suddenly froze in place to listen further. Vanti’s brows continued to crawl up his forehead as he regarded Jarred’s odd ramblings.

 

“How the fuck did an omega get away from _them_?” Leo beat everyone to the question, his  jaw slacking as a worried, yet bemused, glint sparked across the asian man’s dark eyes.

 

“He’s gotta’ be in critical condition, they’re turning back to base with the assumption that he’s already dead... in-... in the east side of Parater Woods.” Jarred cut a path across the sleeping room to dig under his own cot for a map of their area.

 

“Our own backyard.” the head alpha grunted, “Like hell they’re coming over here for an omega.” Rourke had a dark rumble deep in his throat which caused the other alphas in the barrak to rise to their feet. “Dress warm and keep radios on.” he barked, pulling out his gun before remembering that he still needed to get dressed, “No one sleeps until that omega is found.” the kingly man had an unusual dull purple burning demonically in his irises as his fangs sharpened in his mouth.

 

“Beta Jarred.” Rourke called curtly as he prepared to charge out into the winter storm. “Good work, stay on the radios and let us know of anything else you hear.” With an enthusiastic thumbs up, Jarred’s broad smile sent the rest of the barrack out into the wild.

___

Kai couldn’t feel the snow crunching under his knees, but the sound of ice shattering was deafening. His limbs didn’t respond as he tried to force them to take his weight, and the ground was quickly twisting into an inescapable maw around him. He hadn’t heard or scented an alpha for… for… how long had he been out here? Trees that stood tall enough to predate civilization gawked menacingly down at him. Each one nothing more than a black silhouette in the blurring mess of an icy onslaught. Kai couldn’t turn back if he wanted to- he no longer knew which way was back. Everything around him felt like a mirror maze: one laced with eager wolves and cackling sadists.

 

What if this was a mistake? No, it couldn't be- he was going to die back there! If he’s going to die it’ll be on his own terms as a free omega. Last time he checked, lying here in the middle of a blizzard, left to fade in and out of consciousness wasn’t the death he had in mind. 

___

Milo growled against the cold as he buried himself deeper into his scarf. Fucking Jarred and his fucking toys! Then again... If there actually was an omega out here- somewhere in this white hell- what kind of alpha would he be to leave them? With a frustrated huff, Milo figured it would be nice to have a sweet scent in the barrack for once, even if it was only until the weather broke. Sporting a partial shift- only his fangs and claws at the moment- Milo stalked between the coal dark trunks of the abandoned forest. He could still hear Leo’s steady marching to his right, Rourke flanking a couple hundred yards out to his left, and was aware of even more alphas beyond them. Parater woods didn’t have too many hiding holes for the omega to have disappeared into. The only substantial cave was on the southside- deep into the Vulture’s territory. The east was practically all flat land and towering bur oaks. It would make finding him easier, but if the omega didn’t have proper clothing, the elements have the upper hand. 

 

“Heads up guys,” Jarred’s voice warned from the radio on Milo’s hip. “Vultures have decided that the omega was too precious of a commodity to leave out overnight. Might have some company.” With the warning came the unmistakable sounds of soldiers drawing their guns. Milo’s rifle was in his hands without needing to think about it. Leo on his right, Rourke on his left: he mentally continued his checklist. 

 

Fifty yards farther, Jarred’s voice announced that the Vultures have retreated again. Their supplies were nothing compared to what the others had, and the viper like blizzard was too much for them to handle. That’s not a good sign for the omega they were on the lookout for.

 

“Coming up on you, Miles.” his radio reported in Vanti’s voice. Milo lifted the receiver to respond, actively ignoring the annoyed tick that raised in the back of his mind. At least Vanti was closer to his actual name this time. The idiot was making an effort.

 

“Sensed anything?” Milo stayed civil.

 

“Faintly, up a hundred yards between you and Rourke, closer to you.” Vanti’s voice had gravel in it. His shift was progressing now that he actually believed that there was a distressed omega within his territory. “Looking for permission to shift fully to go investigate.” 

 

“Do not make contact with the omega if you do find him.” Rourke commanded with a voice that rattled the small radio’s speaker.

 

“Understood, I’ll hold position until backup arrives.” Vanti was struggling with his shift, that much was clear from the tone of his voice.

 

“Permission granted.” Rourke allowed. The snarl that sounded behind Milo would have triggered him to turn and shoot if he had not known that it was Vanti. The alpha thundered past at the left by a meager ten yards, as a black wolf resembling blur. Vanti was stronger than Milo, by a lot. The only one that could honestly rival Vanti was Rourke himself, it didn’t surprise Milo at all that the other was the first to catch a bit of the omega’s scent. 

___

 _Alpha._ There was no mistaking that pungent stink  of chili pepper, rotting wood, and musk as anything other than someone powerful and frantic. Kai’s hands grasped at the base of his own neck, trying against logic to muffle his own spiralling scent. Fear had caused it to fill the meadow around him with nutmeg and cinnamon, and the new wave of terror wasn’t helping. He couldn’t bring himself to crack open his eyes at first, afraid that he would see the nightmare rush up on him. Kai could feel the phantom pain of how his scruff would be taken in fangs, his body helpless for the alpha to claim. Limp and defenceless to any line of curious spectors. Maybe this time the collision would kill him. Perhaps an over enthralled demon wouldn’t notice the vice hold against Kai’s windpipe. Death by alpha, or death by cold. 

 

Kai’s back pressed against the abrasive tree trunk. His pale skin and light hair hopefully would serve as some kind of camouflage as the snow continued to pile around him. His lungs felt as if they were filled with lead and his glass like eyes strained to make out the daunting shapes when he heard the steps of the demons circling him. He couldn’t seem to make out the shape of the creature because of how his eyes kept freezing from the wind. 

 

“Back up a bit more Vanti, you’re scaring him.” a voice cut through the air. The guttural tone echoed in the otherwise muffled snow blanketed wilderness. The command lingered as a resounding reverb in Kai’s mind, yet the shadowborn wolf obeyed by fading into obscurity among the white backdrop. 

 

“Rourke, I see him, he’s here.” another, slightly softer voice came from multiple sources. No, there’s more than one here. Of course, there would be more than one: Kai growled inwardly. That settlement would be hellbent to find him, and here they were. They’re coming to drag him back to _that_ chamber, back to where those foul smelling, pathetic excuses of alphas could use his as they pleased. He fought so hard to get this far, the last thing he wanted was to go back to chains! Chained at all times, Kai took the first opportunity to run. They would never risk him to have freedom again. The monsters would probably break his legs as punishment.

 

The one Kai assumed was the king had been talking. Every annunciation echoing throughout the deathly still brush although he wasn’t able to make out any of the words. Kai’s breathing arrested when he heard more footsteps approaching him in tandem. The settlement’s king never once bothered with him. He had his own harem and had made it very clear upon the first day that the highest ranked had no interest for a lowly stray such as himself. Now he’s angered the head. Was that the only reason why the other wolf wasn’t outright ravaging him? Kai had made his ironclad control look like a joke by escaping. He’s going to have to face the King’s retaliatory wrath.

 

A partly shifted alpha came out into his clearing, seemingly careful to stay where the omega could watch him. His hood concealed him well, and the scarf he wore was tied securely against the cold. Gloved hands were outstretched, palms out as if to show no harm. No weapons- no secret drugs tucked away behind his back. Kai didn’t overlook the long rifle slung over the alpha’s shoulder, however. His stomach did flips as he studied every detail of the lower ranked alpha. He didn’t recognize the stranger’s scent as one of those who frequented the chamber: the alpha’s was remarkably cleaner and more like budding seedlings compared to rotting musk.  

 

A second alpha came into view to join the first. The newcomer quickly closed the distance between himself and his comrade. This one was taller by a head, hair pulled back in a braid that tucked into his coat, and sharp oriental eye gleaming with a glint of gold accent. He spread his arms to reveal that he also didn’t have any secrets in his gloved hands. 

 

“Breathe, Omega.” the hooded man spoke first, sounding a breath older than a pup. 

 

“We are the Broadmine pack, Little Omega.” the taller quickly followed, his eyes telling a story of pity he held for Kai. “The Vultures can’t hurt you anymore.”

 

These two men were a different pack altogether. The last group never offered protection so explicitly- not that Kai had much of a choice in the matter of leaving with them or not. At least these alphas pretended to be civil.

 

The hooded alpha moved closer, sharp snow crumbling under his booted feet as he did. Kai let out an airy hiss when his hand stretched out toward him. The two were crouched within touching distance, and at the weak sound of Kai’s voice the shorter man halted in his tentative approach. Kai couldn’t fight: he could barely stay awake. Fear was the lone flickering heat in the back of his mind, serving as the only reason he was able to register  worry in the young alpha’s green eyes. 

 

“Take it easy,” the words sounded inviting as they were hushed. The younger hesitantly reached out once again, gloved fingers languidly caressed along Kai’s iced over jawline in an effort to lift his chin from his chest. 

 

“See?.. we aren’t gonna’ hurt you.” the younger cooed when Kai couldn’t help but turn his cheek into the warmth of alpha’s palm. He was submitting. As painful as it was to do, that must have been what the two were hoping to see. The taller made a coddling sound in the back of his throat as he shuffled a bit closer. His golden eyes never left Kai’s face as he pulled a pelt blanket from under his coat. As he unfolded it, Kai could see the deer skin was beautiful, and the inner lining was a second fur pelt… one of a bear perhaps? Kai didn’t have the energy to think it over before he was being wrapped in the thick, body warmed fur. 

 

“We’ll get you properly warm back in base.” the oriental alpha cupped Kai’s jaw, mirroring what the first had done. “Would you allow us to carry you?” The omega whined as he willed himself to disappear within the blanket he was given. Ultimately the heat of the alpha’s palm caused a flutter in Kai’s eyes. Was that what they wanted? Did they need to know how willingly he would submit?

 

Kai really didn’t want to acknowledge what that would entail. 

___

The omega looked weak, as if he was ready to crumble under his own weight. Milo slipped his scarf from around his shoulders to wrap the omega’s frostbitten nose. The pale survivor flinched hard when the woven fabric slid against his skin. Milo hushed gently as he tucked it into a loose knot. The scent of the omega’s fear had overwhelmed the lingering scent of the forest. The two alphas had faith that their allies were in the shadows since there was no other way of knowing if they were still there.

 

“I can take him.” Milo muttered, meeting eyes with the older soldier. “You’re better at fighting, after all.” Leo let out a short chuckle at the words. The asain alpha looked over their much smaller charge once more before standing. Milo replaced Leo by kneeling where the other once was. He held out his arms in a clearly welcoming gesture. 

 

“Come, let’s get you out of here, yeah?” Milo never expected the crack that snuck into the painfully awkward sentence. He had to physically shift the forgivably hesitant omega’s position so that he could get a better hold for lifting him. An airy, weak hiss curled in the air, soft enough that Milo wasn’t sure if it was actually supposed to be a hiss or if the omega was just breathing. Both alphas stopped, silently regarding each other. They could see pale man could barely keep his eyes open, even then the glassy slits were sightlessly rolling back into his skull. His head visibly tried to stop from drooping, his neck taking a touch more of the unbearable weight, accompanied by another, what may have been, warning growl. 

 

“We don’t have a choice.” Leo prompted with a nod of his head. “Get moving.” A moment of silence dragged between them, Milo eventually grunted his agreement. This time he ignored the omega’s pleading to be left alone as Milo pulled the other against his chest. 

 

The extra weight was barely noticeable as Milo jogged back towards the barracks. Leo’s steps were in time with his own, flanking just behind and slightly to the left. Shadows moved around them, their brothers and commander escorting them without making themselves too obvious to the omega. The omega was panicking. His scent told Milo that, despite how hard he tried  to stay silent with tears freezing to his cheeks. 

 

“Tuck your nose against my scent, Little Omega.” Milo tried to keep his voice gentle, a hard thing to do while running. “We are nothing like Vultures. You’ll see.” 

 

Their home was marginally better than one could expect considering a rowdy group of alphas and a spattering of bettas lived here without much supervision. Beds were generally put together, and dirty clothes stayed mostly restrained to a corner of a room. Rourke couldn’t take his eyes off of the omega as Milo paced across the spit log flooring towards a bed closer to the fireplace. The pale blond survivor looked more like a corpse from how the cold drained colour from his skin. Now that a nearly forgotten corner of Rourke’s mind had awakened: it was painfully evident how the place smelled from the sheer number of alphas in the room. The patrol had been here since early summer giving more than enough time for each one’s scent to heavily saturate the wooden structure. There wasn’t a place they could put the omega that would ease the king’s instincts. 

 

Jarred swore rapidly under his breath as he anxiously fiddled with the bed he had prepared for the coming omega. The extent of the little one’s condition hadn’t sunk in until he personally saw how helpless and limp the omega was in Milo’s arms. 

 

“We’ve got to get him cleaned up.” Leo asserted before either of them could properly get the semi-conscious man situated. Leo’s gaze expectedly swept over to Rourke for permission to begin filling a bath. 

 

“Can’t submerge someone who’s hypothermic!” Jarred squeaked.

 

“Can’t expect him to sleep covered in those fucker’s cum either.” Leo bit out loudly. The king kept his growls deep in his chest, his purple gaze continuing to linger on the omega as Milo pulled the loose edges of the fur around the smaller frame. Jarred was saying something else, his voice taking on an incredulous note.

 

"Leo." Rourke barked, halting the argument with a thunderous voice. "Get a bucket." he could clearly scent the fear under the smaller's skin. His sweet omegan scent dwindled under the strain of panic and pain, but it was still there. He was still fighting to live. 

 

He’s never held someone so fragile before. Despite the curious stares from the other residence, Rourke was the only one to approach. They knew that a key had turned somewhere deep in their king’s mind; no one was going to physically be able to go near that omega anymore. The omega whimpered as the head alpha lifted his noodling body onto his lap. The foreign hands must have burned in the worst way where they touched his broken skin. Markings were caved all over his body. Bites and bruises with ranging ages and intensities nearly blacked out his throat and painted his frail torso. 

 

Leo set the bucket down at the king’s feet. His mouth held a hard line as he fought to swallow down his instincts. Leo wanted to be right where Rourke was, but knew better than to try his luck. The bulky man didn’t move at first. The two of them just basked in the warm orange glow of the fireplace. Heat that poured from the alpha’s body seeped into the smaller’s as a lifeline, the powerful man purring deep in his chest. 

 

Rourke watched helplessly as the omega struggled to know if he could trust this illusion of safety, but the many others weren’t even trying to pry him from their leader’s grasp. He hoped to show that the little one had fallen into favor of the commander, which was better than being torn between the entire squad of touch starved soldiers. He’s never held someone so simultaneously hot and freezing before. Little one’s very core felt as if he were made of ice, but the flesh pressed against this man’s body was searing. He wasn’t too sure of when he had stripped himself of his shirt. Yet, by the time he lead that drooping head on the overdeveloped muscle of his chest, only bare skin and coarse hair cushioned his cheek. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you thank you for your continued curiosities~


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